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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Hookman, post: 4384936, member: 99642&quot;]You can&#039;t put back what&#039;s not there.</p><p><br /></p><p>Silver or gold electroplating works by taking silver or gold electrons from a <i>sacrificial </i>piece of silver or gold. The electricity <i>excites</i> the electrons in the larger piece of silver or gold and causes them to move to the lesser piece of metal, thus electroplating the secondary piece of metal.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the case of the bicarb situation it is a chemical, not electrical, process. Tarnish on silver (gold doesn&#039;t tarnish) is a chemical reaction between the silver molecules and some other molecules(I&#039;ve heard that it&#039;s sulphur, I am not a chemist). Silver tarnish is actually silver and when the tarnish is removed, actual silver is actually removed.</p><p>How much silver is removed?</p><p>Unless you have an extremely sensitive measuring device, you may never be able to tell.</p><p>For example, when you firmly wipe or polish a silver coin, the luster will be lost, but can you weigh the coin before and after and tell the difference?</p><p>Probably not unless you have an extremely sensitive measuring device.</p><p>However, with a microscope you can see, like others have said, that the polish lines are gone and that is missing silver.</p><p><br /></p><p>To be clear, I am NOT a scientist of any kind, and I have simply provided a &quot;layman&#039;s&quot; explanation of these processes, (as I understand them), for discussion purposes only.</p><p><br /></p><p>Please carry on.</p><p><br /></p><p>EDIT :&nbsp;&nbsp; Replace &quot;polish lines&quot; with &quot;flow lines&quot;.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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