When
we were working on the
coin collecting
page, experts said that you should be careful about cleaning
coins that might be valuable. At the same time, we found a
giant list of solutions and products that you can make and buy
to clean pennies. The interesting part was that these lists gave
results that they had found by using the solutions. We
wondered if we would get the same results and decided to try it
to see.
Remember, two people can do the same experiment and get
two different results. This is because something might be just a
little different in how the experiment was done or the solution
made. For that reason, we decided to go into the
experiment with an open mind and not assume that we would get
the same results as we saw online.
The tables below contain our experiment information.
The first box is the solution or product we used, the second
column are the before and after cleaning pictures (top is
before, bottom is after) and the third column is a film clip
showing how to clean the penny using the solution.
Vinegar and salt:
1. Fill a glass with vinegar and add a teaspoon of
salt and mix it.
2. Put the penny in and leave it for 5 minutes.
3. Take it out and rub it with a paste of baking
soda and water.
4. Wash and dry the penny.
Before
Vinegar and
Salt video
Right
click here and choose
"Save target as" and download it to play it.
After
Tabasco sauce:
1. Put enough sauce in a container to
cover the penny.
2. Leave it for 3 minutes.
3. Take it out and rub it with a baking soda and
water paste.
4. Wash and dry it.
Before
Tobasco sauce
AND
Ketchup video
Right
click here and choose
"Save target as" and download it to play it.
After
Ketchup:
1. Put enough ketchup in a container
to cover the penny.
2. Leave it for
3 minutes.
3. Take it out and rub it with a baking soda and
water paste.
4. Wash and dry it. (Video in block above)
Before
After
Bathtub/shower cleaner:
1. Spray the coin 2 or 3 times.
2. Wait a minute or more.
3. Rinse and dry it.
Before
Shower cleaner
video
Right
click here and choose
"Save target as" and download it to play it.
After
Copper cleaner
1. Wet the coin.
2. Rub the cleaner
on the coin according to the manufacturer's
instructions on the cleaner.
3. Scrub the coin,
rinse it, and dry it.
Before
Copper
cleaner video Right
click here and choose
"Save target as" and download it to play it.
After
Magic Eraser
1. Wet the
eraser and coin.
2. Scrub for
a couple of minutes.
3. Rinse and
dry.
Before
Magic Eraser
video
Right
click here and choose
"Save target as" and download it to play it.
After
We read what should happen in this experiment before we
actually did it. That wasn't a good idea because we
didn't find the expected results at all. We read that
people were getting pennies really clean with the Magic
Eraser and that just wasn't what we found. We even
found that the shower cleaner made the penny look dirtier! According
to our experiment, the best cleaner was ketchup, followed by Tobasco sauce and copper cleaner. The worst cleaner was the
shower cleaner. It was exciting to see the tarnish
come off of the pennies! Happy cleaning!
Piggy Page
Back to
Coin Collecting
This page explains
what you need to start a collection.
Logo,
buttons,
links,
printable page,
jumping pig,
and
citation graphics
were made by team members. Pig on links button is Microsoft Office
clipart, available free for school projects. Animated pig was found in Web Animation Explosion, a graphics program we
own.
All videos and coin pictures were taken by the team.
