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 Replies: 22 / Views: 7,311 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2805 Posts |
I was having a bit too much fun with this yesterday:  The trick: edge as close to the water as you can WITHOUT TOUCHING THE SURFACE (after all, the surface tension is what you want to hold up the coin - so don't break it!), and let it drop as straight as possible. Another tip: you want to pick flat, thin aluminum coins. Thick ones (i.e. Romania, 500 old lei) have too much weight and not enough surface area. Also, coins with plain edges will work slightly better than reeded edges, but as you can see from the picture, it's possible with any of them. I have no idea if coins with holes in the middle float better (although it seems like it). You can see some of my failed attempts between the floating coins, but I had an overall 80% success rate, and most of that was lost to experimentation. Have fun  |
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Pillar of the Community
Thailand
1509 Posts |
Obviously too much time on your hands.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
1. I don't have any Aluminum coins 2. If I did have any and amyone saw me trying this, I really have some explaining to do. 3. So now what are you going to do with all those wet coins? 4. A real accomplishment would be to do this with Lead Coins. 5. Now try it with Gasoline and then light. 6. All in all, one more thing for people to with coins.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
I have managed to float a tiny nickel plated steel dress maker's pin on water, using surface tension. Not hard to do, with a little care.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1888 Posts |
Did you use tap water?  I see some coins in that tub that really should not be allowed to get wet. Getting wet is for surfers & seals & people with rods & reels. Not so much for coins! Especially aluminum coins! Aluminum is a highly reactive metal. Water is a polar solvent, meaning it is ionized and ready to react with most anything it touches. Momentary contact is enough to begin a corrosion process that starts at the microscopic level, but can and will destroy an entire coin. There is nothing uglier in the coin hobby realm than an al-yoo-min-eeyum coin reduced to a showcase for aluminum oxide propagation.  with thai-vic. This silliness kinda makes me sick. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
17901 Posts |
In the National Museum in Reykjavik in Iceland I saw a 1977 aluminium 1-krona floating on a glass of water as part of an exhibition about Iceland in the 1970s...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8515 Posts |
" That boy ain't right, I tell you what "  Oregon coin geek.....*** GO BEAVS ! ! ! ***
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19935 Posts |
That's actually really cool!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
This reminds me of a bar trick I saw in the Netherlands. Fill two beer glasses with water, while submerged, put them lip to lip and carefully remove, standing them up so you have two full glasses sealed together, end to end. Bet someone that you can get a coin into the glass without spilling a drop. Carefully tap the top glass towards one side until there is a very tiny gap. The surface tension will keep the water inside still. Then you slowly slide one of those very tiny coins (I think it was a 1 Gulden) into the glass. With a lot of practice, it could be done without spilling any water.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
This reminds me of a bar trick I saw in the Netherlands. Oddly enough when at a bar, things like that are very impossible after a few Martini's. Even filling the glass with water could become a problem. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
837 Posts |
That is a nice collection of aluminium coins you got there Nalaberong !  @ mysilveryears while what you say about the properties of aluminium & water is correct, I should add that aluminium when exposed to air quickly forms an oxide layer which kind of protects the metal on the inside , this oxide layer is not reactive when exposed to many substances hence I doubt water would do much harm to those coins. Those coins probably have an oxide layer on their surface or some kind unreactive compound on their surface otherwise they wouldnt have been released for circulation if they were as reactive as pure aluminium ! If those coins were on the surface of a strong acid the I would have been really worried  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1234 Posts |
I think it's hilarious, if I was not lazy I'd get my "pop can" coins out and have TONS of fun Edit: speaking of Hilarious I had seen a post a few days ago from just carl and he said you should only collect 1964 nickels so they would get out of circulation and the rest of us would not have to dig through them, or something like that I laughed like crazy, always do with his posts, but someone else asked why he was always so sarcastic... if anyone thinks it sarcastic they might be right but I still think just carl is just funny  , keep it up just Edited by ASLAN TVorlon
01/04/2014 10:11 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4897 Posts |
Creates a whole new way to think about, "floating a loan."
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Pillar of the Community
United States
844 Posts |
ASLAN, I saw the same post! I laughed too! As far as the floating coins, nice! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1234 Posts |
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4. A real accomplishment would be to do this with Lead Coins. Find me a lead coin and hammer and I'll show you a lead coin floating on water, it's all about surface area, the ones with the holes might be floating higher due to the extra ridge plus they have a hole in them so it's not filled with anything but air. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
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Find me a lead coin and hammer and I'll show you a lead coin floating on water, Not sure what you mean. You don't know where to get a hammer? You plan on hitting the water with a hammer? You never saw a Lead Coin? Not many of those around though. Guess we'll all stick to Aluminum. |
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Replies: 22 / Views: 7,311 |
Posted 01/03/2014 3:58 pm
