Are pennies dangerous

Answer 1

Either if you swallow them or shoot them out of a gun....no.

But, Also if you drop them from a high building and hit someone, they could be hurt.

Unless you shoot them out of a child's pop-gun, of course they would be dangerous. Replace them with the birdshot in a shotgun shell and they would be deadly.

Also, there are two types of pennies in circulation. In 1982 pennies switched from being 95% copper and 5% zinc to a composition of 98% zinc covered with 2% copper.

The 95% copper pennies when, for instance, a child swallowed one or two was usually left, to pass harmlessly through the child's intestinal system.

But the 98% zinc (the after 1982 copper pennies) especially as the years go by, and the older coins develop wear can be deadly. A single one of these new pennies has been documented to cause a stomach ulcer, requiring it's endoscopic removal. If numerous pennies have been swallowed today, most physicians will remove them endoscopically. Not only can they cause an ulcer, but zinc which reacts with stomach acid much, much faster than copper creates zinc salts, mostly zinc chloride. This form of zinc in more than tiny amounts can cause toxicity leading to numerous medical problems.

If a child swallows a single penny, depending upon body weight a medical practitioner may simply adopt a conservative "wait and see" approach but often will perform a radiograph (x-ray) to make sure the penny has passed by the numerous "tight spots."

Dogs are even more sensitive to zinc toxicity and there is a case where a dog died from eating just two.

Note: Should your child or pet swallow even a single penny, consult your medical practitioner.