23/02/2017 Chemistry in Pictures — Turn your pennies into “gold” Rosemarie Pittenger,...

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TURN YOUR PENNIES INTO “GOLD”
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February 21

Turn your pennies into “gold”

Rosemarie Pittenger, a science teacher at John P. Stevens High School in Edison, N.J., made the most of her
pennies with this lab demonstration of metallurgy and surface science. To make the silver-looking pennies,
Pittenger placed coins in a bath of 1 M zinc chloride solution with small lumps of zinc. Zinc ions floating in the
solution grabbed electrons from copper metal on the penny’s surface. This electron exchange produced
copper ions that were released into solution and zinc metal that plated the penny with a thin silverlike surface
coating. To make the golden penny, Pittenger put one of the zinc-coated coins on a hot plate for a minute or
so. The heat made the zinc coating and remaining copper underneath diffuse into each other and mix to form
an alloy, specifically yellow brass.

Submitted by Rosemarie Pittenger

Do science. Take pictures. Win Money. Enter our photo contest here.

Chemistry teachers, tag your submission with #K12ChemPics to participate in a special photo contest for the
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Periodic graphics: the compositions of U.S. coins

Lab equipment made with pocket change

#penny #money #demo #chemistry #lab #alchemy #copper #gold

#zinc #brass #K12ChemPics #CENChemPics

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CHEMISTRY in PICTURES
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