Hello all! The following is a long mess of one of my semester finals in physical science. Enjoy!
THE 1943 CENT EXPERIMENT
BY BEN CHASE
ANA #3181904
Hypothesis: Toothpaste, aluminum polish, vinegar, and eZest Coin Cleaner will not have an effect on the rust found on a on a rusty 1943 steel
Wheat cent (made in 1943 to conserve copper for the war effort).
Procedure: First, get all of the items necessary for the experiment.
Items needed:
5 rusty 1943 wheat cents
1 Toothbrush
1 10oz tube of "Crest" toothpaste
1 5oz bottle of "Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish"
1 "terry" cloth
1 32oz bottle of hydrogen peroxide
1 32oz bottle of distilled white vinegar
1 5oz bottle of "eZest Coin Cleaner"
1 Dry towel
1 Small glass bowl
Next, set down one of the steel cents in the glass bowl. Next, pour in the vinegar until it reaches about 3/5s of the way up. Next, pour in the hydrogen peroxide until it reaches 4/5ths the way up. Leave to sit for four (4) hours. In four (4) hours, pour the mix out into the sink. Be sure to not let the steel cent go down the drain. Now, rise and clean the bowl. Next, put the second (2) steel cent into the small glass bowl. Pour enough toothpaste into the bowl to cover the coin. Next, take the toothbrush and, holding the coin, scrub the cent for 10 minutes. You may need to add water occasionally. Be sure to flip the coin occasionally to get both sides. After about 10 minutes, wash out the bowl again to get rid of the toothpaste. Next, take your third (3) steel cent, the eZest Coin Cleaner, and the dry towel. Open the lid on the coin cleaner and dip the cent into the dip. Be careful not to let your fingers touch the cleaner, because it is potent stuff. After about 30 seconds, take the coin out and run it under cold water. PAT dry with the dry towel, BE CAREFUL NOT TO RUB. Finally, take your fourth (4) steel cent and your 5oz bottle of "Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish", and your terry cloth. Put a gumball sized amount of polish on the cloth and rub the cent for about 10 minutes. The fifth (5) steel cent is your control cent (for comparison, DONT use it!).
Independent Variable Type of coin cleaning solution cent is exposed to.
Dependent Variable Amount of rust remaining on a 1943 steel
Wheat cent after the cleaning
Results:
Conclusion: While the metal polish did do a lot of work on the cent, the hydrogen peroxide and vinegar combination won hands down. The combination of the vinegar, which would normally do this type of damage, and the hydrogen peroxide, an oxidizer that speeds up the reactions, proved to be excellent at removing rust. However, the product did end up eating away at the coin itself. The eZest Coin Cleaner did the worst, but still managed to remove 15% of the rust off of the coin. The toothpaste managed to surprise me the most, removing around 35% of the rust from the coin. I believe that if I would have worked with the toothpaste for an hour longer that it would have removed all, or most of the rust. While the cleaners may seem impressive, using them voids the coin's numismatic value and renders it to soly its face value. Just because the coin is free of rust does not mean it is free of problems, such as cleaning. I would NEVER recommend cleaning a coin. Only under special circumstances should this be done. That leads me to my points of error. It is quite possible that I did not clean the coins for a long enough time: a longer time *could* result in 100% of the rust being removed. Another source of error could be that it is very hard to keep the toothpaste on the coin, as it often slips off. Anyhows, it was a fun experiment, and, if you MUST, using hydrogen peroxide and vinegar will remove rust off your 1943
Wheat cent (along with the surfaces of lincoln's face).
Background Science of Experiment: Ever since the steel cents were made in 1943, they have started to rust. Since than, people have been looking for a way to remove the rust. Generally, the best way to remove the rust is to simply prevent it from contacting water or moisture. The water in the air and on the ground reacts with the air and the surfaces of the coin to make it rust and turn black. The purpose of the experiment is to find a substance that rips off all of the rust from the surface of the coin in a uniform manner that does not disrupt the natural luster of the coin.
Images (not part of paper, but part of poster)
Control Cent (nothin done!)
Hydrogen Peroxide and Vinegar (Looks WAYYY better! Looks like a nice coin with a little luster left!)
Toothbrush and toothpaste
eZest Coin "Dip" (did more in hand)
And last, but not least, Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish!
Anyways, thanks all for reading and I hope I get an "A"!!
Oh, I almost forgot! Here is the poster:
Posted 12/10/2015 12:42 am
