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 Replies: 14 / Views: 1,695 |
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New Member
United States
3 Posts |
Hello,
First allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mike. I am a 7th grade Science/History teacher. At the present time we are studying the process of oxidation. One of my students suggested that we experiment and study this process with the use of coins. Trouble is, that I know nothing about coins. Can someone please help me with this. Our experiments and studies will involve, causes, effects and progress of oxidation.(I believe its known as toning, to the coin community). The details that we need to begin are...Which coins are most effected? How should we begin the oxidation process? Does the oxidation vary with different factors, etc?
Thank you all very much, Mike S.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4589 Posts |
https://goccf.com/t/5358 and also sulfer is a big one that causes oxidation Silver I believe is the most effected. coins are a great way to teach kids so many duifferent things it is a very good tool .. I am sure some one will be along to give you better answers than me but if I can say this on the forum .. if you want to start a program using coins to teach kids history, geography, metalargie ,chemistry any many more . Also acute hand eye cordination reaserch skills they will need for college the list can go on and on . If this is posible and something you would like to use as a tool I would be willing to donate some coins to the effort.. I fthus interests you go back into your profile and add and email I believe I can contact you , you just cant contact me untill you have 50 posts 
Edited by scoutjim99
05/11/2006 12:30 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4589 Posts |
for example read some of the posts .. personaly I have confederate money civil war tokens foreign money , Military items etc I can see a million ways to capture atleast a little more interest from some students by using visual aids from there you know did that done that .. and as a teacher your payoff of reaching kids alot of times is not noticed till many years later...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7123 Posts |
Hi S-H Teacher
Welcome to our forum !!
To keep this on the inexpensive for experimentaion purposes , use copper, it is highly reactive to almost every environmental condition that you can think of, humidity, heat,cold, dry,or any combination of any of these will produce different and unique results.
copper can also be affected chemically,with substances such as lemon juice,sulfer,pepsi cola,even cardboard will affect copper given time.
Time being the key word here, some things effect coins slowly, which is the case with most environmental conditions, chemicals however can be immediately effective as can heat, stick a cent in a potato and bake it.set a cent on a light bulb for 15 or twenty minutes, try nickels also, the effects will surprise you .
Rick
You didnt mention the name of the school that you teach at, or the state in which it is located ?
Edited by Metalman
05/11/2006 03:32 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
547 Posts |
Hi S-H Teacher! Metalman has it exactly right as far as copper goes. Copper is the most reactive metal that coins are made of. Also besides all the things that Metalman had listed that will affect copper, one of the most interesting is Taco Bell Hot Sauce. If you have a dirty penny it will clean it right up. I've never read the ingrediants, but most likely has to do with any acid in it. Another thing is if you place a silver coin in water with another type of metal (Bronze works well)..This can also affect the coin although it may take some time. Here's a link for an experiment you can perform with pennies and vineager (acetic acid). The oxygen in the acetic acid reacts with the copper to form copper oxide. http://school.discovery.com/lessonp...tionMetals2/Let us know how the experiments turn out!! Christina |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4589 Posts |
I was hoping you all would chime in I new both of you know alot about the subject..Thank fo the bail out
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New Member
 United States
3 Posts |
Hello again, Thanks to all, for your information. We have begun to do some experimenting, mainly with pennies,and have had some interesting results. We havent tried the Taco Bell Hot Sause. LOL. Not very good results with baking a penny in a potato. However, many of the other suggestions yielded results quickly. Any further helpful information will be very much appreciated, as the school year is coming to a close. Thanks again, Mike By the way...I teach at Hazelwood Jr. High, in New Albany, Indi ANA |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7123 Posts |
Hi HS Teacher I will post a pic or two of the results that I got from a baked potato. I keep a small collection of AT coins as example coins to study and compare with other examples that are often posted and questioned as to origin.   Rick Edited by Metalman
05/21/2006 10:52 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
547 Posts |
S-H Teacher..
Glad to hear that the experiments worked out well!! As far as any more experiments that could be completed in a sort amount of time, I am not aware of any. Silver and nickel coins react mainly with air and that can take years for a reaction to be visible.
Rick..I don't know if you have any more ideas? Also, did you bake the nickel with the potato in the oven or microwave? Was it wrapped any particular way? I'm curious and want to try it myself!!!
~christina
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7123 Posts |
Christina
The cent and the nickel were both done in a potato wrapped in plain aluminum foil and left to cool before removing , 450 for about 2 1/2 to 3 hrs, gas oven. I'm not sure what electric will do .
try wet oak chips, water and oak chips make tannic acid, I have never done this but I have contemplated it .
Rick
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Valued Member
United States
382 Posts |
Take a American Silver Eagle, wrap it in tissue paper, put it in a black metal box (sealed), stick it on your roof and let it "cook" for about a month.
Want to see some funky colors...actually, some of these coinns "toned" beautifully!
Patience is the key!! You must do this slooooooowwwwwly
I got the idea because I was out of town and I ordered some silver eagles and when I got back, they were sitting in my mailbox for over a week and I noticed and nice blue hue forming. Try it and let nature (plus the sulphur from tissue paper) do the work!
Edited by zakgold
05/22/2006 08:04 am
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Valued Member
United States
380 Posts |
you might find some of the other topics; concerning 'toning'; to contain additional usefull informatation . use the search tool; found at the upper right side; of the home page ((in the red bar))1. enter toning. 2. search for all words (default)3. all forums 4. subject only 5. any date (default) I came up with aprox. five results.my memory is not the best; however not too long ago kedra? had a similar school project and received a good number of responses-tips back then. ~errorfinder~
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Pillar of the Community
United States
547 Posts |
Thanks Rick! I'm going to try it later this week..I'll let you know how it turns out  |
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New Member
United States
3 Posts |
Hello everyone,
Here are the results. Sorry, I dont have any pictures though.
We mainly used pennies, but the results were approximately the same with all the different coins we used. Not exactly the results we expected. But all is not lost.
1. We tried the experiment with vineager.--Results...pennies turned a pale orange/pink color and some of the tarnish seemed to be removed. Not bright/shine as the experiment suggested. Also the coins left in the vineager for longer periods, did not turn blue/green.
2. Lemon juice seemed to have no effect.
3. Pepsi actually began to eat away at the surface of the coins.
4. Applying a heat source (light bulb, oven, etc)is about the only experiment that we got significant results.
However, we arent giving up. Maybe we need to tweak some of the experiments to yield greater results.
Actually, what I was hoping to achieve, is similar to the pics from Metalman. Oxidation/toning in various forms, that could be studied. I appreciate everyones help and any future suggestions.
I will be extending this study through the summer and possibly into next year.
Thanks again to everyone, Mike
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
2078 Posts |
Actually cola is a cleaner and not an oxidiser
It contains phosporic acid
If you want to oxidise oxide is not the only product of oxidation
there is for instance silverchloride and silversulphate
Under supervision following toning box should be efficient
Take any box with a transparant cover
Take a glycerine substance
Into a glob of glycerine add some chrystaline sulphur S8 that is
A large tip of a knife covered will do for starters
Then add about one tenth that amount in chrystaline Iodine I
Place this blob with a silver coin in the box and turn the coin
regularly
The vapours from the sulphur and iodine will tone a silver in 24 hours if you got the concentration right
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Replies: 14 / Views: 1,695 |
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Posted 05/11/2006 12:28 am
