How do you make zinc acetate?

Answer 1

First find a source of zinc. If you live in the US, you can just file the copper layer off of a penny. Zinc can be ordered from United Nuclear.

Then get some acetic acid, which is readily available as white vinegar. Place the zinc in the acetic acid and let it react. You can tell if it's reacting because it will produce hydrogen gas bubbles. If you're using a penny, don't worry about serious contamination, because copper reacts much more slowly than zinc. While it's reacting, you may see that a black layer is forming on top the zinc source. Just use sandpaper or a file to get it off, but it's not important. If you have zinc powder, you won't have to worry about this, because the reaction will happen much more quickly.

Once it's done, let the solution evaporate, or boil it down for faster results. It will have a slight contamination of dark blue copper(II) acetate. It's not crucial to purify it, but it can be removed by placing more zinc into the solution. This will reduce copper(II) to copper metal, and oxidize zinc metal to zinc(II), forming more zinc acetate. It forms beautiful octahedral crystals. It burns teal in a flame, and can be used to color a fire.

If you need extremely pure zinc acetate, you'd be better off buying it. But homemade zinc acetate is still cheap and useful.