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 Replies: 10 / Views: 2,695 |
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Valued Member
United States
98 Posts |
What is quick way to determine zinc from copper penny, specifically
for the 1982 (7 different varieties)? Thanks.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4867 Posts |
I beleive you have to weigh the coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1952 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
764 Posts |
unless your very experienced with them, the only way is to weigh them. copper cents weigh 3.1 grams and zinc cents weigh 2.5 grams.
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Valued Member
United States
342 Posts |
If you have a metal detector they give off 2 different readings.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
626 Posts |
Flip 'em in the air. A copper '82 will ring, a zinc '82 doesn't.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7123 Posts |
weight is the most accurate method,,a simple balance scale will work.
a simple balance scale can be made from a round pencil and a popcicle stick ,,find the center of the popsicle stick glue it to the round pencil and fix a zinc cent on one end ,,by laying another cent on the the other end it will either balance or drop ,,if it drops then the other cent is a copper cent if it balances it is another zinc cent.
Metalman
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Valued Member
 United States
98 Posts |
Thanks for everyone's input. I purchased a set of the 1982 coins and will experiment with my coins that I have saved over the past few months to see if I can correctly identify them. I will compare them to the "authentic" ones I just purchased just to see. Thanks again for all of your kind assistance. I especially am going to try "Metalman's" solution.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
626 Posts |
I have never had any luck with a teeter-totter balance scale, half a gram is too small of a difference to accurately judge. I bought a small digital scale for about 20 dollars before I realized that flipping them in the air is the quickest, cheapest, easiest test there is.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Actually metalmans explanation is the cheapest and still accurate method to separate the different ones. However, one addtion to his post is not to use a round pencil, although it does work. Difficult to stop it from moving. A standard pencil with six sides will stand still while balancing the flat stick. Any flat stick will do but a popsicle stick is usually more available if nothing else fun to acquire. One drop of glue will make your balance beam a success. The ones I've made I put the heavier pre 1982 coin on one end and the 82's on the other. Note also you should use as new a coin as possible for the dumy side. An excessively worn coin may not be as heavy as it should be.
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Valued Member
United States
208 Posts |
The flip-in-the-air method works good, enough to tell the difference/
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Replies: 10 / Views: 2,695 |
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Posted 03/13/2007 6:16 pm
