Turning Copper Pennies Into Gold Essay

The Congress authorized the amount of copper in a penny after 1982 to be 2.5% by mass. The mean value found from this lab was 3.018%. There were no discernable variations based off of the penny’s apperance or mint date. The value reached from this lab is significantly different from the authorized copper content.

During this project, the group will be attempting to turn a penny green. Needed in this experiment will be pennies dated before 1982 because that was when pennies were made of copper. During this experiment, the group will be mixing together different chemical reactions in order to get the penny to turn green. The group is trying to create a patina coating on the penny. Patina is referring to the blue-green layer of corrosion that expands on the surface of copper when it is exposed to oxygen and sulfur compounds. However, instead of using simply sulfur and oxide compounds, like the Statue of Liberty, the experimenters will be using a vinegar substitute. The vinegar is being substituted for the acid rain, the acid is the

In the experiment, What Goes Around Comes Around, the element copper was put through a series of chemical changes to observe whether or not the final copper precipitate had the same mass as the initial mass of the copper. The purpose of this lab is to prove the Law of Conservation of Mass, which states that mass cannot be created nor destroyed. In the experiment, if the final mass of the copper precipitate is equal to the initial mass of copper, this law is proven because the copper was not destroyed in the chemical reactions nor was it created. Copper was first combined with the compounds nitric acid(HNO3), water(H2O), and sodium hydroxide(NaOH). This mixture was first chemically separated using heat to boil out the water. The aqueous solution

The purpose of the experiment is to cycle solid copper through a series of five reactions. At different stages of the cycle, copper was present in different forms. First reaction involves reaction between the copper and nitric acid, and copper changed from elemental state to an aqueous. The second reaction converted the aqueous Cu2+ into the solid copper (2) hydroxide. In the third reaction Cu(OH)2 decomposed into copper 2 oxide and water when heated. When solid CuO reacted with sulfuric acid, the copper returned to solution as an ion (Cu2+). The cycle of reactions was completed with the reaction where elemental copper was regenerated by Zn and Cu

The purpose of this lab was to make a substitutional alloy coating the penny in a gold color. The color of the penny depends on the Zinc and Sodium Hydroxide solution, and if heat was added or not. We took a copper penny and boiled it in a Zinc and Sodium Hydroxide solution. Then we took the penny out, rinsed it in water, and dried it off. Now the penny was silver. We then took the penny and waved it across a flame causing it to turn gold. Some errors that happened were getting Zinc in our water and over cooking the penny. These could be fixed by rinsing the Zinc off the penny in its solution before taking it out and not heating the penny for as long. A suggestion for improvement would be getting the flame at the lowest temperature possible.

It has come to my attention of how we use our money and noticed that pennies aren't being taken seriously. I realized while standing in the checking line, people would rather use dollar bills instead of the piggy bank of pennies in their possession, not only because of limited utility, for instance, pennies are generally not accepted in vending and bulk machines, but also because the act of producing the penny cost more than the actual penny itself. So I ask myself, "Why use pennies? Should they be eliminated?" The growing debate of whether or not the penny should be eliminated from all cash transaction is, personally, futile, when they, themselves, doesn't bother to use them.

The U.S. penny has been a standard in our currency system for almost as long as our country has existed as a sovereign nation, but due to inflation, production costs, and the changing times we live in, it is no longer a sustainable unit of currency and only serves to increase our national deficit and waste our time. When the penny was produced for the first time in 1792 by the U.S. Mint, it was made of pure copper, featured a woman with flowing hair, and was inscribed with the words “Liberty”. Since then, the design and composition have changed numerous times to reflect our changing nation. Despite its fading glory, the penny has been kept alive by numerous false lobbying fronts and a stubborn ideology, but

Obtain a 50 mL beaker for the experiment. In the first part of the experiment, you dissolve the zinc core of a penny and leave the copper covering intact by putting four notches in

The Cu Later lab experiment is designed to allow you to practice lab skills in implementing and performing a series of reactions. Specifically, four types of chemical reactions will occur: oxidation/reduction; double replacement; single replacement; and decomposition. You will begin with a known amount of copper metal, which, after progressing through several steps, is reproduced. In this experiment you will observe and record the various changes such as heat, color changes, and production that occur. This procedure is used to observe some chemical reactions of copper and its compounds while also performing the lab appropriately as to retain the copper as much as

In this lab, we will determine the percent composition of a modern (post-1982) penny by using a strong acid to react and dissolve the zinc core, leaving only the copper coating. Once only copper remains, we will compare its mass to the entire mass of the penny to determine how much of a penny is copper and how much is zinc.

A second reason this should happen is that it is bad for the environment. Creating the penny releases C02 into the air. For example the article Should we get rid of the Penny 8 Reasons to Keep it vs Eliminate it says,”Design Life-Cycle.org a sight created by students at the University of California, calculates that just transporting pennies to banks-not even counting any other stage of production-puts about 1.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (C02) into the atmosphere each year. The penny also contains toxic metals. For example the article Should we get rid of the Penny 8 Reasons to Keep it vs Eliminate it says,”Along with the Zinc the ores usually contain other metals, including toxic metals like Cadmium and Lead. Along with toxic metals the penny uses a surprising amount of metal. The surface metal is only 2.5% of the penny’s entire metal composition. The penny should go away, because of how environmentally unfriendly it

|1. Copper metal (penny) at the start |Tarnished, worn out, brownish, copper-colored, fine solid. |

Purpose: The purpose of this experiment was to observe the many physical and chemical properties of copper as it undergoes a series of chemical reactions. Throughout this process, one would also need to acknowledge that even though the law of conservation of matter/mass suggests that one should expect to recover the same amount of copper as one started with, inevitable sources of error alter the results and produce different outcomes. The possible sources of error that led to a gain or loss in copper are demonstrated in the calculation of percent yield (percent yield= (actual yield/theoretical yield) x 100.

Copper was the first metal used by man in 7000 BC. They used copper a lot in the bronze ages for swords. They use copper now in TV wirings, charges and mobile phones. Copper ore is mined both underground and on the surface. They dig large excavations formed called open-pit mines. There are about .5 oz. of copper in your mobile phone. That’s more than all the other metals in your phone and weighs 15% of your phone.

The main purpose of this experiment was to show that single displacement reactions between metals according to their reactivity, with more reactive elements having the power to displace less reactive elements and take their place in a chemical compound (Beran, 2014). This was supported by the results of the experiment, where solid metals were combined with aqueous solutions that contained another element, and reactions only took place when the solid metal was more reactive than the other element in the compound. Only three attempted trials resulted in a failure to produce a reaction, namely the combinations of copper with hydrochloric acid, and copper with nickel sulfate. The outcomes of these trials are justifiably reasonable because copper is ranked lower in the