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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,019 |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
6638 Posts |
I searching cents from an old, dirty plastic juice bottle, I found that many copper cents had a sticky dark substance on them. I plunked one in acetone overnight, but the sticky, hard stuff did not dissolve at all.
Then on a hunch, I tossed some into hot tap water, and the substance immediately dissolved.
I thought acetone will dissolve any organic gunk? What else aside from juice residue could that have been on the coins that would dissolve immediately in hot water but not at all in acetone?
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Moderator
 United States
190882 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12477 Posts |
I haven't tested it, but could it be as simple as sugar? I am reading varying results on acetone's ability to dissolve sugar...
In Memory of Crazyb0 12-26-1951 to 7-27-2020
In Memory of Tootallious 3-31-1964 to 4-15-2020
In Memory of T-BOP 10-12-1949 to 1-19-2024
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Moderator
Australia
16889 Posts |
Hesitating to point out the obvious possibility, but... Quote:
...from an old, dirty plastic juice bottle... ...might it simply be fruit juice? That would be both sugary and have other compounds likely to be water-soluble, which might or might not come off in acetone. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5691 Posts |
Agree it's likely sugar. Sucrose is not very soluble in acetone.
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Moderator
United States
99822 Posts |
I have (had) a coin with a sticky residue on it that acetone would not touch, now I can't find it to test out this hot water soak - gonna keep looking for it..
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
6638 Posts |
Ok, thanks. I guess I had misunderstood the capabilities of acetone. I thought it would dissolve just about any organic residue. jbuck's link to BadThad's polarity discussion was helpful, as were the comments on this thread.
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Moderator
United States
190882 Posts |
Quote:
jbuck's link to BadThad's polarity discussion was helpful It is a great topic. I am glad it helped.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6638 Posts |
I think the big takeaway from re-reading his article is that it isn't really an escalating intensity. I had understood it to be water < acetone < xylene. Where anything that water would dissolve would also be dissolved by acetone. But that doesn't seem to be the case. Different substances respond differently to the liquid polarities. Water might be the gentlest option, but there are apparently still residues that will dissolve in water that will not dissolve in acetone, despite acetone's greater chemical intensity.
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Moderator
United States
190882 Posts |
The ladder is in the direction of cost and danger. The idea is to stop when you find something that works, although I still prefer to end with a fresh rinse of acetone to dry the coin.
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,019 |
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Posted 01/04/2025 04:10 am
