Introduction:
Pennies made after 1983 have a zinc core with a copper coating. Pennies made before 1983 are an alloy of 95% copper and 5% zinc. Modern pennies are lighter than older pennies, and are less expensive to make. This experiment will show what happens when a copper coin reacts with zinc and zinc chloride. Some of the zinc will “dissolve” in the copper of the penny. Then you’ll heat your penny. This will allow the copper atoms in the penny to move around, and will result in a mixture of copper and zinc on the surface of the penny. This is an alloy called “yellow brass.” Please after doing this process, don’t try to spend the pennies.
Materials needed
Hot Plate
Bunsen burner
25-mL graduates cylinder
2 250mL beakers
Long Tongs
Mossy Zinc
3 Molar NaOH solution
Two pennies- dated after 1982-

Directions:

1. Plug in the hotplate and set it for a medium high setting.
2. While the hotplate comes to temperature, weigh out .5g sample of zinc and obtain 15mL sample of sodium hydroxide solution and carefully pour both into beaker.
3. Put this solution onto the hotplate, when it comes to temperature, and wait until the solution starts to bubble.
4. Then adjust hotplate to keep the solution just bellow boiling.
5. Add your pennies to the hot solution carefully.
6. Move the pennies around until they have a uniform silver color. Then flip them to make sure both sides are silver.
7. Fill the other beaker with 25mL distilled water.
8. After the pennies are “silver”, using the tongs carefully remove them from hot solution and add them to other beaker filled with distilled water. Turn hotplate off.
9. Then, rinse and dry coins with paper towel.
10. Holding the coin edge to edge and vertically with tongs, heat them over the Bunsen burner’s outer cone. Heat until the coin looks entirely gold and then for an additional 3 seconds. Do not overheat.
11. Immediately immerse the coin the in the second beaker of water.
12. Repeat steps for the remaining coin(s).
13. Then Remove coins from water and dry them.

Remember to wash your hands to remove any acid.
What Happened
When you heated the coins, the zinc combined with copper forming a bronze coating. Because the bronze is high in zinc, your coin looks “gold.”


That’s it, you know have a “gold penny,” obviously it’s not real gold but it’s cool to whip out a gold looking penny for your buddies.

Your finished results should look similar to this (Compare to regular penny in middle):

Additional Experiment
Using a triangular file, cut four equally spaced notches around the outside of a post-1982 penny-deep enough to each the zinc core within-[note, make sure this is a new penny and not used in the steps above]
Now place the penny in a small beaker and add enough hydrochloric acid
Let stand for a couple of days in acid and then gently remove with forceps or tweezers.
Rinse Completely under running water.
You are now holding a paper thin copper shell previously encasing the zinc core.
Be careful, this Copper is fragile and will break under little force.

Because of this I will be uploading several old videos that populated my original youtube account before I took all that content down. So on July 9th, 2008 my youtube channel will be populated with a gears of war unboxing which was extremely popular when it as first uploaded. Along with this unboxing I will also be uploading an unboxing of an iPod nano, an iPod nano walk through, the unboxing of the dlink dir-655 router and my initial impressions of the dlink dir-655 wireless router.

Thanks for understanding and enjoy the content!

Michael

I find this highly ridiculous. I have a connection from comcast rated at 6Mbps and I am pretty happy with it. Sure, it takes a long time to upload youtube videos and live streaming has issues but come on. I would kill for 40Mbps while a lot of Koreans find this just average. Some US businesses don’t get these speeds yet there are people who complain about it.

More importantly I think this survey shows a huge problem with american service providers. With ISP’s charging outrages fees upward of $40 you would think you would receive first rate service. Wrong. For me at least I get fluctuating uptime and slow speeds atop my $45/ month charge. It’s time for us as consumers to stand up and demand a lower price or faster speeds with better reliability.

Overall, I find it hard to believe that 46Mbps is just decent. However, it brings up the even bigger issue of american ISP’s ripping off their customers. South Korea is at the forefront of internet connectivity and I think America should take some tips from Korea. I mean, the tech world would be much better if everyone could complain about 46Mbps.

Other noticeable points to mention include a remedy for Restless leg syndrome (RLS)

Drink a 6-ounce glass of tonic water each night before bed until symptoms go away.

Personally I don’t have RLS but it’s interesting that this is included on the list. But the best part of this 17 point list is the fact that each one was suggested by a medical doctor or Ph.D so you know this information is safe and reliable.

Happy New Year everyone.
-Michael Sherlock

I hope everyone out there a has happy holiday season. Whether that be Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, or just a new year, I hope you prosper and enjoy this season with your family. May you receive what you wish, give what you can, and love one and another.

Happy Holidays