What are the jobs of each of the chemicals in the b & w photography developing process?

F

Fernie

New member
i'm doing a speech on how something works, and for my topic i've chosen black and white photography: going from film to paper. i've looked everywhere and i know the 3 chemicals in developing film are developer, stop, and fixer, but what exactly does each one of them do?
also, what are the names of the three chemicals when developing the actual photograph?
any other info on how this works that i may have forgotten? any ideas for demonstrations i can do?
thanks so much.
 
The developer converts the exposed silver salts in the emulsion to metallic silver.

The stop halts the development process.

The fixer removes any remaining nonmetallic silver from the film.

The process is exactly the same for print chemistry.

Optional steps for the film include a water prewash before the developer to remove the colored antihalation layer of the film, a prewash agent between fixer and washing that reduces the wash time, and the application of a wetting or archival agent after washing to prevent water spotting and/or protect the negative.
 
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