Would a penny burn in acid?

Answer 1

It wouldn't exactly burn, but the copper shell would slowly oxidize over the course of a few days in a concentrated strong acid. Once the thin layer of copper is gone from the outside the zinc on the inside, which makes up most of the penny, will react fairly vigorously, producing zinc chloride and bubbles of hydrogen gas.

Answer 2

No, metals are not soluble. Base metals are inert in pure water that is they do not give up their electrons. However they may be reactive so if they dissapear over time it is due to a reaction. Whether this will happen to a coin depends on what it is made of. Others would appear to dissolve in an acidic water solution but this again is caused by a reaction. Iron will react rather thsn dissolve in water where oxygen is present and rusts. The ability for this to occur in other metals depends on the electronic configuration of the metal and the acidity (amount of hydroxide) of the solution it's in. Some metals also are so highly reactive in water that they will explode if placed in it. Gold however is extremely stable and largely unreactive so gold coins or jewellry is largely unchanged even after thousands of years of being buried in acidc soil.

and gleaned from elsewher on the internet:

• From 1837 to 1857, the cent was made of bronze (95 percent copper, and five percent tin and zinc).
• From 1857, the cent was 88 percent copper and 12 percent nickel, giving the coin a whitish appearance.
• The cent was again bronze (95 percent copper, and five percent tin and zinc) from 1864 to 1962, except: In 1943, the coin's composition was changed to zinc-coated steel. This change was only for the year 1943 and was due to the critical use of copper for the war effort. However, a limited number of copper pennies were minted that year.
• In 1962, the cent's tin content, which was quite small, was removed. That made the metal composition of the cent 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc

Copper does not react with water.

Tin is more reactive than germanium, which is immediately above tin in the Periodic Table. It is stable to water under ambient conditions but on heating with steam, tin reacts with water to from tin dioxide, SnO2 and hydrogen.

Although zinc metal tarnishes in moist air, and zinc burns in air to form the white zinc(II) oxide, a material that tirns yellow on prolonged heating, zinc does not react with water.

Answer 3

Yes, a penny would burn in acid. The acid would react with and corrode the copper in the penny, causing it to dissolve or deteriorate.

Answer 4

why would u even ask that