When you are looking to buy silver jewelry you will have to make a choice. Do you want real silver or do you want sterling silver. The problem with real fine silver is that it is very soft in its pure form. When using it like that in jewelry like rings, necklaces, bracelets and pendant it will very easily be damaged. Because silver is so soft in its pure form it very easy to scratch. If you buy pure silver jewels you will have to handle it extremely carefully. That's why jewellers often use sterling silver as base material of for their jewelry.
Sterling silver is an alloy of silver with other metals. This makes the material stronger, more robust and more suited for jewelry. The alloy contains around 9 tenth of silver and 1 tenth of copper. An alloy of copper and silver preservers the silvers ductility and beauty. You will be able to enjoy your jewels made this precious metal more without worrying about scratches. Sometimes the copper is replaced with zinc, platinum, silicon or something else to improve some properties such as the porosity.
The biggest problem with the use of sterling silver as base materials for jewelry is that it becomes more susceptible for tarnishing and corrosion. Pure silver does not suffer as much as other materials from corrosion, it does not react with oxygen or water. By adding other materials in the alloy it will react faster with oxygen in the air and the problem of tarnishing and corrosion will increase.