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The penny was originally made of pure copper, then bronze (95% copper). However, the value of the copper in a penny eventually became more than the value of a penny. Therefore, they started making the penny out of zinc and coating it with copper because people were used to copper pennies.

Second, cents and dimes are nearly the same size, so most people distinguish them by color. When zinc-plated steel cents were made during WWII people confused them with dimes because they had a similar silvery appearance. A pure zinc coin would have the same problem.

Finally, zinc can be poisonous in high doses and is more easily absorbed than copper, so if a child were to swallow a pure zinc coin it would be more dangerous.

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