Is it possible using electrochemistry or some other method to reverse a typical single replacement reaction to go in the opposite direction. For example, is it possible to take silver metal and copper nitrate to get copper metal and silver nitrate? I would like to do this, because nitric acid is very expensive to ship, and I can easily buy both silver metal and copper nitrate. I don't know how to isolate the silver the silver nitrate as it is formed because it will simply react with copper metal in a electrochemical cell.
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1$\begingroup$ Have you heard of an electrolytic cell? $\endgroup$ – Niels Kornerup Jun 9 '16 at 5:12
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$\begingroup$ Yes, but I don't know what electrolyte I could use for the silver half of the cell without polluting the product or causing side reactions. $\endgroup$ – popgalop Jun 9 '16 at 14:12
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$\begingroup$ Use copper sulfate as the electrolyte and do it in a solvent where copper sulfate is soluble but silver sulfate is not. $\endgroup$ – Niels Kornerup Jun 9 '16 at 15:07
