What is "silver nitrate"

Nitrate \Ni"trate\, n. [Cf. F. nitrate.] (Chem.) A salt of nitric acid.

Nitrate of silver, a white crystalline salt ( AgNO3), used in photography and as a cauterizing agent; -- called also lunar caustic, and more commonly called silver nitrate.

n. (context inorganic compound English) The silver salt of nitric acid, AgNO₃; it is sensitive to light and is used in the preparation of silver halides for photography; it is used in laboratories as a reagent to test for chloride

n. a nitrate used in making photographic emulsions; also used in medicine as a cautery and as a topical anti-infective agent

Silver nitrate is an inorganic compound with chemical formula . This compound is a versatile precursor to many other silver compounds, such as those used in photography. It is far less sensitive to light than the halides. It was once called lunar caustic because silver was called luna by the ancient alchemists, who believed that silver was associated with the moon.

In solid silver nitrate, the silver ions are three-coordinated in a trigonal planar arrangement.