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Why Silver Chloride is stored in dark colored bottles?

Answer: The essence of understanding the aspects and the vital properties of chemistry might sometimes reside in the tricky questions which help us to realize and engrave a curiosity for having a fascinating approach to the topics of chemistry. Similarly, the article may tend to cover in brief the answer to the question of why silver chloride is preserved in dark-coloured bottles and what is the fundamental logic behind it.

The compound silver chloride is primarily composed of elements of silver(Ag) and Chloride(Cl) and can predominantly be described as an ionic interaction-based compound between its constituent molecules. The compound silver chloride physically appears to be a white coloured crystalline molecular bonded compound with the chemical representation formula as AgCl. It is also vital to know about some facts before going directly to the answer to the above-mentioned question such as:

  • The chemical compound of Silver chloride is a light interacting chemical that is quite sensitive to light
  • Their reaction in response to the presence of light is quite fast
  • The reaction of silver chloride in response to light produces a proteolytic mechanism which leads to the formation decomposition mechanism in the compound
  • The compound after chemical breakdown produces silver and chlorine in gaseous states which are both hazardous and toxic

Hence,  due to the above-mentioned facts and properties occurring after the interaction of silver chloride with light, the viable conclusion presented to us is that to prevent the decomposition of the AgCl compound it must be kept away from light. Hence dark coloured bottles play an important role in this by not allowing light to enter the bottle and preventing the decomposition of AgCl.