How long will it take for vinegar and salt to clean a penny?

Pour ½ cup of vinegar into the bowl and add 2 teaspoons of salt to it. Hold a penny halfway into the liquid for about 15 seconds and remove it.

metrofamilymagazine.com - Simple Science Experiment: Clean a Penny - MetroFamily Magazine

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Do you have a collection of pennies somewhere in your house? More than likely those pennies don’t have a nice coppery shine but instead are dull, dark and possibly tinted with green. This month you will learn about a great technique to clean off this coating and reveal the true shiny copper color below. You will also learn that this is not just scrubbing off dirt, but it is a branch of science called chemistry.

Materials:

20 or so dirty pennies

Two small glass bowls

Clear vinegar

Table salt

Paper towels

Lemon juice or orange juice

Access to a sink

Procedure:

Examine the pennies, notice the grimy layer on them. Try to scrub this off with water… you won’t be able to get it shiny! Pour ½ cup of vinegar into the bowl and add 2 teaspoons of salt to it. Hold a penny halfway into the liquid for about 15 seconds and remove it. Make some observations. Put the rest of the pennies into the vinegar/salt solution and wait 10-15 minutes. Take half of the pennies out and rinse them really well with water. Take some time to scrub them a bit to make sure no salt/vinegar remains on them. Take the other pennies out and just leave them on a paper towel WITHOUT rinsing them off. Wait until they dry and make some observations.

Explanation:

The world around us is made of little pieces of matter called elements. These elements combine with one another to make many different types of materials. This is chemistry! Most metals, like copper and iron, will chemically join with oxygen in the air after a while. This is called “oxidation,” and makes the metal “rust.” This is why a bike left out in the rain too long will turn rusty brown, and why the Statue of Liberty has turned green. It was once a shiny copper statue, just like your brand new cleaned pennies. The “dirt” on the pennies was a new chemical substance called copper oxide. It doesn’t easily come off, as you found out by trying to scrub them with plain water. When you mix the salt and vinegar, however, this makes a new substance, too; a type of acid. This acid is really good at breaking down the dirty pennies. If you rinse it off afterwards, no further reaction will happen and they stay clean. You notice, however, the pennies that were not rinsed off have become green and gross. The chemicals left behind on it make the copper react even more to form a new substance.

Experiment further:

There are plenty of things to experiment with this idea. Are there other substances that might work as well as vinegar and salt? Does lemon juice and salt work? Look at the ingredients of ketchup. Will that work? Will the same thing happen if dipped in plain vinegar or plain salt water?

Dirty pennies work this way, what about other coins? How about different types of salt? Different amounts of salt? Wow, there are a lot of things to test with, and you have them all in your kitchen! I hope you enjoyed this simple experiment. If you have more questions about this, specifically around the science fair aspect of this experiment, contact the author. Steve Davala is a high school chemistry and physics teacher who likes to write and work with Photoshop. He’s got two kids of his own and subjects them to these science activities as guinea pigs. Follow him on Twitter, on www.stevedavala.blogspot.com or email him at steve.davala@gmail.com.

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What are the 5 most valuable pennies?

01 of 16. 1914-S Lincoln Penny. ... 02 of 16. 1944-D Lincoln Penny on a Zinc-Coated Steel Planchet. ... 03 of 16. 1909-S VDB Lincoln Penny. ... 04 of 16. 1872 Indian Head Penny. ... 05 of 16. 1969-S Lincoln Penny–Doubled Die Obverse. ... 06 of 16. 1926-S Lincoln Penny. ... 07 of 16. 1877 Indian Head Penny. ... 08 of 16. 1914-D Lincoln Penny. More items... •

thesprucecrafts.com - The Top 16 Most Valuable Pennies - The Spruce Crafts

Some little pieces of copper can be worth some huge dollar amounts. For the world's rarest and most coveted pennies, values are well over $100,000 and approaching $2 million. But, of course, rarity is a significant factor in determining a penny's worth. Condition is another; coins that stayed out of circulation may retain their original coloring and fine details, significantly adding to their value. And some coins are made more valuable simply by being unintentional, as with the 1943 Lincoln pennies that were mistakenly made with bronze rather than steel. Finally, demand is the factor that drives value the most. Almost every collector of United States coins began collecting the Lincoln penny. Most of them pulled the coins out of circulation. As a collector, you eventually reach the point where you need to purchase your coins from a coin dealer or at auction to achieve the quality you want. Since pennies hold a special place in almost every coin collector's heart, demand for high-quality coins can drive the value through the roof.

Rare Pennies

Read on to find out what makes these 16 coins the most valuable U.S. pennies, based on over 250,000 public records and auction sales figures.

1914-S Lincoln Penny

1944-D Lincoln Penny (Zinc-coated steel)

1909-S VDB Lincoln Penny

1872 Indian Head Penny

1969-S Lincoln Penny-Doubled Die Obverse

1926-S Lincoln Penny

1877 Indian Head Penny

1914-D Lincoln Penny

1864 Indian Head Penny-"L" on Ribbon

1943 Lincoln Penny (Bronze Alloy)

1856 Flying Eagle Cent

1909 Lincoln Penny (VDB Matte Proof )

1943-S Lincoln Penny (Bronze)

1958 Lincoln Penny (Double Die Obverse)

1944-S Lincoln Penny (Steel)

1943-D Lincoln Penny (Bronze)

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