How do you calculate the copper and zinc in a penny?

Answer 1

Present day pennies (1983 on) have a mass of 2.5g and a copper percentage of 2.5%, which comes to 0.0625g or 0.0022 oz Older ones have more copper. http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/tsullivl/commoncents/PennyComposition.htm

Answer 2

Gently sand about 1/3 of the edge of the penny just enough to remove the copper and expose the zinc.
Then soak the coin in 5% Muriatic acid in a glass dish until it stops bubbling.
The Muriatic acid will dissolve the zinc and leave the copper shell intact.
Wear rubber gloves and use tweezers to gently remove the copper shell.
Thoroughly rinse the copper shell and handle it very carefully as it is very thin.

Answer 3

Except for 1982 cents, you can tell by the coin's date:

> All Lincoln cents dated 1981 and earlier, except the famous "steel pennies" from 1943, are made of bronze which is 95% copper.

> All cents dated 1983 and later are 97.5% zinc plated with 2.5% copper.

The composition was changed in 1982 so the simplest way to tell is by weight: a bronze cent weighs about 3.11 gm while a zinc one weighs 2.5 gm.

Answer 4

To calculate the amount of copper and zinc in a penny, you first need to determine the weight of the penny. Pennies minted after 1982 are mostly zinc (97.5%) with a copper coating (2.5%). You can then use this information and the weight of the penny to calculate the amount of copper and zinc present based on their respective proportions in the coin.

Answer 5

i am not sure but i think you weigh it then subtract weight of copper sorry if you don't understand

Answer 6

Yes, as long as there is no chemical interaction between them.