The other day I was going through some old penny rolls (see YUCK!!!) and decided to mess with some of the pre-1982's.

At my desk there were: snapple bottle, acetone, and Tarn-Off. Toss in 12-15 copper cents, bit of acetone, and a few ounces of Tarn-Off. Let sit for 2-3 days and BAM! Blue solution (caused by copper ions). I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow.

Anyone else do something cool, unusual, or just plain wierd with their coins? Boredom makes people do odd things.

I have some cents, an uncirculated,a proof and a dirty old pure copper, sitting in some white vinegar and another group sitting in diet Dr. Pepper.
I'm going to pull them out sometime in May.

Why? Part science and, as you said, boredom makes people do odd things.

I had an UNC Ohio quarter sitting in white vinegar for a few months. Came out kind of gritty and had very little luster left.

I throw Cents at the warehouse workers when I want their attention.

I did a science fair project on copper in grade 5 with different chemical reactions. I had a bottle that turned blue like yours, and accidentally spilt it. Now that did some serious staining!

You guys stay away from my coins! You hear me! Stay away!!!!

"I wonder if Mr Churchill will turn pretty colors if soaked in motor oil and then washed off with water?"

My uncle throws all the zinc cents into his driveway. Sometimes the neighbor kid goes and picks them up, sometimes they just sit in the limestone which wreaks havoc on copper plated zinc. It just eats them into nothing, but its fun to look through the gravel and see the progression, from new ones that are just a little white to ones that have literally chunks eaten out of them. Pretty cool. I've never timed it, but I am guessing a cent goes from whole to nothing in less than a year.

I once read something about tabasco on coppers so I gave it a try with an old battered cent.

Wow, immediate reaction, the toning completely disappears, and you get a nice red cent.

however, lustre disappears too and after not too long, the nice read disappears too, to change in some weird pinkish colour, quite ugly.



Another experiment we did loooong ago (I was a kid) : we took a quarter and carefully welded a thin, 3" long nail on it. Then we went outside, waited till nobody was around and placed the quarter on the pavement, at the point where 4 tiles come together. The nail went all the way into the little gap between the tiles. Needed some force to go all the way in, but that was the intention. Then we hid behind the bushes and waited for peeps to pass the quarter and trying to pick it up.

Hilarious!!!!

First they try to pick it up but as soon as they discover they can't pick it up they quickly pretend to do something else, realizing it's a prank and they're probalby being watched. Shoe laces (sp?) were almost all the times loose and needed to be tied again LOL

Good one T_3!

I have been able to get similar laughs when I know the temperature will go from + to below freezing when there is no snow. I just put a coin on the ground, a tad of water on it and it freezes to the ground. People try and pick it up, kick it free, anything, but it still stays there.

I'm thinking you should gather a few of those up for the UCC.

Trantor - In high school we used to super glue quarters all of the place (this was my seniour year, I sat in the office all day doing nothing). It was funny to look on the cameras at people trying to pick them up. Even better was watching someone get a pair of scissors and prying it up. My buddy took a bunch of change and glued it to the toilet seat, needless to say we didn't stick around!

i know some of you may have tried this:

1. clean some old, darkened silver jewelry with a popular tarnish remover using the dip method.

2. use the remaining tarnish solution on your copper pennies. It can be brushed/wiped on or dipped for about 30 seconds.

3. Vóilá! A nice shiny silver cent!

I'm no chemistry major but it has something to do with active silver ions forming a covalent bond with the copper surface. This works with copper plated (post-1982) cents as well but the silver wears off very quickly afterward. The silver ions are active and react underneath any stains on the coins as well....pretty cool.

That sounds like a cool idea Likes Ikes!