The project above is a DEMONSTRATION. Be sure the penny is coated in whatever solution is in that cup. Extra: Can you think of other safe household acids you could test? Phosphoric acid breaks down the copper oxygen compound and causes a new layer of the copper to be exposed. If you are looking for a fun and engaging way to keep kids passionate about learning, check out Groovy Lab in a Box. Salt and vinegar mixed together creates a chemical reaction to form hydrochloric acid, which is far more acidic than vinegar alone. Dirty Pennies Kitchen Science Experiment - Science Fun 2023 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Media, All Rights Reserved. Do not add anything to the cup. Thanks a lot Meriley. This will help them to get thinking about the subject and soon, they will start to come up with their own questions. All you need is a couple of old copper coins, some different liquids and a few other tools. This is a pretty safe experiment. How does time affect the cleanliness of the pennies? Conclusion: The hypothesis was proven true, and the pennies, were best cleaned by the strongest acid, which in this experiment was lemon juice. CokeCoke and off-brand colas will quickly remove the tarnish. (Optional) Dip one piece of pH paper in each solution (it turns more blue for basic liquids and more red for acidic ones), let it dry, and label which liquid it was dipped in. Students try to figure out how many drops of water can fit on a, , and also test which types of water work best (Tap water, Salt water, Soapy water). The pennies will be cleaner and brighter than before. Its not just dependent on how old the pennies are. The classic coin cleaning experiment is an easy and affordable way to get your kids interested in science. After all the pennies have soaked for about five minutes, it is time to pull them out. Ketchup is a weak acid (from the vinegar), and this acid breaks down the copper oxide. MAKE IT AN EXPERIMENT. 2. This activity helps students to see and experience the properties of water- including Adhesion, Cohesion, and Surface Tension. Pennies rust overtime. PRINT AND GO STEM BUNDLE. Create a solution of vinegar and salt using one teaspoon of salt and 1/4 of a cup of vinegar. You can dispose of any extra ketchup how you normally would. 'Elephant's Toothpaste, - Lesson 4 of 50 - Grades 4,5,6 Remember that at the very start, I said you should use only copper coins? 3 clear cups. Hypothesis: If I use 4 different products to clean pennies, adding each product to the a plastic dish (not mixing together), I predict that out of the 4 products, ketchup, fabuloso, coke, and lemon juice that lemon juice will clean a penny the best. So we did a little experiment to see what would actually happen. Rinse and dry the penny. How did this happen? Science - Lesson 1 of 50 - Grades 4,5,6 This website is helpful to me but,add more steps and I think it can be more helpful. Materials: Dirty pennies Glass Vinegar Salt Measuring spoons Paper towels Instructions: Fill the glass about halfway full with vinegar. Read this: Life Lessons from the Scientific Method.). HOW TO CLEAN PENNIES| SCIENCE EXPERIMENT - YouTube All rights reserved. When printing this document, you may NOT modify it in any way. What do you see? Next, drop in a dirty penny and stir. After cups are put away, remove goggles. You can find this page online at: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/stem-activities/shine-bright-like-apenny. It turns out that when you mix vinegar and salt, a chemical reaction takes place and form what is called hydrochloric acid. 2. We know that its mostly tomatoes a quite acidic vegetable. Taco Sauce Penny Cleaner - Steve Spangler Ask them questions, have them tell you what they see happening. Always happy to help! Recently, we did thisCleaning Pennies Experimentand the results were surprising to my kids. A coin collector prides himself on gathering pennies, but old tarnished pennies are an eyesore to anyone's collection. Through a penny cleaning science project, you can study atoms, chemical changes and observing processes through the scientific method, all of which are science lesson benchmarks for eighth grade. Doing a simple science experiment with them now and again helps encourage them to ask questions and learn, as well as improve important life skills like communication, critical thinking, and problem solving. The experiment can be done with just as much fun and learning without using this tool. 1. This outlines all of the steps of scientific investigation. Hi! (Dont believe me? Drop the pennies into the soda. For cleaning up, I used a variety of materials such as lemon, vinegar and salt, water, water with soap. To begin with, you'll want to find a handful of dirty pennies. Copper oxide dissolves in a mixture of weak acid and table salt. Copper oxide is blackish. Wait at least two minutes before rinsing the pennies. Seven Layer Density Column Science Experiment, Exploding Popsicle Stick Bomb Tutorial An Energy Experiment For Kids. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. And also, dont forget to Subscribe to our channel for more fun kids activities. This is easy for the water and other thin liquids, but for ketchup or mustard, you need to flip the penny around to be sure it is coated. Penny cleaning science projects are a popular choice at grade school science fairs - and for good reason. Science Activity: Turn Old Pennies Bright and Shiny! | Exploratorium Remember to be sensible and dont let them near any dangerous liquids like petroleum or bleach kids may come up with a few silly answers for fun, but as the adult, you need to draw the line at what is fun and what could be potentially dangers. Most of these aren't substances that are typically used to clean, which is part of makes guessing how they will affect the pennies more fun. Science Experiment With Cleaning Pennies Teaching Resources | TPT And don't worry, I give the science behind it all! This lab activity aims to explore the concept of surface tension by examining the amount of water that can fit on the surface of a, without overflowing.The lab activity comes, , an eyedropper, and water. I LOVE teaching! Once all the pennies are in the correct cup, use the remaining time to observe the pennies, and the contents of the cup. The reason for this is that copper has quite the relationship with Oxygenthat isthey react to each other. Therefore, acids are the best kind of liquid to use to clean coins as it easily dissolves the copper oxide that coats old coins and makes them look new and shiny again. This blue-green is called malachite and copper can turn into malachite over many years of exposure to chlorine and oxygen. Here is how to set up your cleaning pennies experiment. A lot of parents or guardians may initially be switched off to this because they assume you will need fancy kits and equipment but thats not always true. At the end students write which solution, Lab Activity" is an engaging and interactive lab, designed for high school and college biology classes. I'm a teacher, currently doing distance learning with my students during the school closure and I'm going to use your activity for our Weekly STEM Challenge! From Dull to Dazzling: Using Pennies to Test How pH - Science Buddies (Glass Or Cup) Upside Down Water Experiment : An Amazing Science Trick! Put 1 tablespoon of Vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt into each Vinegar cup. Kids will love Groovy Lab in a Box because it contains everything they need to do experiments focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). What do you notice about each penny? Which solution will clean copper pennies the best, soap and water, Lemon Juice , vinegar and salt, coca cola, or ketchup? All you need for this science experiment are vinegar, salt, a glass jar, and dirty pennies.1. The acid in ketchup is acetic acid, commonly known as vinegar. ), 20 Best Sensory Tables Ideas for Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers, Science Fair For Kids: The Battle of the Senses (Taste vs., solutions like ketchup and the salt and vinegar mixture, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhAgQEr1LOE, Can Ketchup Clean a Penny? by Brenda Priddy | Jul 12, 2017 | Homeschool |. In this activity were going to explore why pennies dont stay bright and shiny, and test different methods to bring the shine back! And it even had added acetic acid! Chemistry Experiments With Pennies - ThoughtCo Stir in about one teaspoon of salt and mix until it dissolves. All rights reserved. A chemical reaction between the vinegar and the salt removes copper oxide. Once you have the pennies, pour some of the soda into the glass. You should have at least five different liquids ready to pour into each individual cup, but you can always add some more for fun. So, the results of your kids coin cleaning experiment should be that the ketchup and the vinegar and salt mixture were the best coin cleaners. i thought that this was very helpful all five of my kids did this and they got an A so yea, gunna use this for my science project at school:D, well i think this experiment was welled organized but it could have showed more steps in the process of how they started from beginning to end also it could have said how long did it sit in the liquid, did they whip it off or not, showed what color was the coin at first etc, This is a great experiment im in 7th grade my science teacher was shocked. Again, make sure the penny is completely covered by Ketchup. Get your copper coins out of the containers where theyve been hiding for many years and get them cleaned. Students will create a booklet or for a quicker project, just print the worksheet. This is why most pennies you see look dirty or tarnished, its not actually dirt, but copper-oxide that makes them look so dull. Begin by pouring the vinegar into the bowl. Most of these aren't substances that are typically used to clean, which is part of makes guessing how they will affect the pennies more fun. So we proceeded to read the other ingredients and guess what we found? CLEAN PENNIES WITH VINEGAR - ScienceBob.com This is also why the salt and vinegar mixture was a better coin cleaner than just vinegar alone. Avoid unsightly marks and scratches by learning how to clean sunglasses the right way. Step 3: Dump all the pennies into the liquid. Next should either be the soda/fruit juice or vinegar (sometimes these switch depending on what type of each you have used) because their pH is usually around 3, so they are mildly acidic. It also helps them practice graphing, determining independent and dependent variables, and analyzing experimental results. Here is the science of cleaning pennies with ketchup. So what just happened here? Stage 1: First, prepare all your cups and line them up. Vinegar and SaltMake a solution of vinegar and salt and let the pennies soak. Deidre is an avid writer with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature. When copper reacts with oxygen and chlorine, it turns blue-green instead! The salt and acetic acid in vinegar do the trick. Please supervise your children during all activities. Compare the penny from the ketchup to the control penny. This post contains affiliate links. The soda cleans the pennies because it contains phosphoric acid. Answers to, Questions: 1 colour page Cover the pennies with each of the mixtures, smear them around with your fingers, and give the ingredients at least 2 minutes to react. 'Fire Water Balloon, ' link: We would recommend you use any liquids from the following list for the best results: Now, you can get to the fun part carrying out the experiment! In fact, new pennies are so pretty that its considered a compliment to say that something is as shiny as a new penny. Begin by pouring the vinegar into the bowl. In this experiment, if the water is corrosive enough to strip off the copper oxide then you will see the progress of the reaction by watching the pennies go from dull and dingy to bright and shiny. Go back to the table you drew. First, prepare all your cups and line them up on a counter. To begin, the experimenter and supervising adult should plan out which solutions they have access to and can use to test their penny-cleaning capabilities. If you are looking for an easy way to engage your kids with science, then why dont you try out the classic cleaning coins experiment? The next day, pour the soda out of the glass, careful to leave the pennies. Water is the worst because it is a neutral liquid, meaning that it sits smack in the middle of the pH scale. Here's what a young scientist will need to get started: In order to perform this simple experiment, do the following: Once the results are in, talk to the child about which pennies look the cleanest and if they can see any patterns regarding which solutions seemed to do the best job. Just click on the image to find more science fun. This is because when the hydrochloric solution cleaned the coin and air dried it, it also took with it some of the salt. In this case, you may have noticed that the Ketchup and Tabasco pennies were not quiet as well-cleaned as the pennies that were in the vinegar and lemon juice. The Salt And Vinegar Method. We laid our pennies out to look at them and were surprised with the results. I'm so glad you liked it! This will be where you place your coins for comparison. Here is the full list so you can tick them off with your kids as you collect them: When it comes to what liquids you and your kids can use in this experiment, part of the fun is asking them what they think would be good to use and trying it out. What changes could you make to the experiment to get even cleaner pennies? The negatively charged oxygen atoms in our air are attracted to the positively charged copper atoms in the penny. A questionable aspect of this experiment is arisen with the change of the color of ammonia during the experiment. How to Clean Sunglasses Without Scratching Them. Kids will get all the supplies they need to complete the activities in addition to a cool lab book .Subscribe here. Line these cups up in a row. Sign up to learn about our special events, clubs, camps, promotions and school programs. Place each of the pennies in the 1 minute column into their corresponding cup. The salt in the ketchup adds dissolved chloride ions that bond with the copper to form copper chloride, which allows the acid to break up even more copper oxide. #sciencegoals (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhAgQEr1LOE), Top 20 Musical Toys for Babies Under 6 Months, Best Guide On How To Encourage Motor Development In Babies, Science Fair Ideas for Kids: Manipulating Gases with Balloons, Science Fair For Kids: The Battle of the Senses (Taste vs. Which one is the cleanest? In this case, talk with the young scientist about which solutions he or she thinks will best clean the pennies. are shinier than others, learn the meaning of a hypothesis by watching a video (link to website), make a hypothesis, graph their hypothesis, are dull and how they become shiny. This will help them develop into highly skilled individuals and prepare them for more difficult situations they are sure to encounter later on in life. I needed a quick science activity. In each case, make sure the penny is completely covered by the contents of the cup. Teacher Notes: Student Write-Up Sample: 1 colour page This product is designed to teach people how to clean old, tarnished pennies using simple household items such as vinegar and salt. But if you really want to dig in you can guide your children through the scientific method while doing this. In this lesson, the students will predict why some. The step-by-step instructions included in this digital product are easy to follow and are accompanied by colorful illustrations that make the process even more engaging. Leaving your pennies in the cleaning solution longer gives the reaction more time to continue, and gives you shinier pennies! Hi, I'm Kim! I love coming up with simple and fun learning and STEM activities for kids. As we have seen experimentally, acid alone does not clean as well as acid and salt. 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My kids had fun doing this, raiding their piggy banks to find some dirty pennies. Put 1 tablespoon Ketchup into each Ketchup cup. Begin the experiment by placing a few pennies on a small plate. Rank your solutions from which cleaned the penny the best, to which cleaned it the worst. Fill the eyedropper with water from the water beaker and carefully count the number of drops that fit on the penny until the water spills over the edge. Ketchup Soak your pennies in ketchup to clean them like new. Keep it out of reach with a note to be sure no one drinks the soda. You also may have noticed that the longer the pennies stayed in the cleaning solution, the cleaner they became! We are going to put the coins into different liquids, which of these liquids do you think will clean them? Chemical reactions are responsible for the change in a pennys appearance over time. Did you get to the same conclusion that the ketchup and the vinegar + salt mixture cleaned the coins the most? Science isnt a one and done thing. Cleaning Penny Experiment Teaching Resources | Teachers Pay Teachers Stir until the salt dissolves. Yes, thats right. from Science Buddies http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-activities. Cleaning Coins Experiment [Procedure And Explanation] So, the liquids that have worked best in your experiment are the ones that are more acidic. One of the best things about this experiment is that it does not cost a lot to set up in terms of materials. Were there any cleaning methods where the time didnt matter, so the 1 minute and 5 minute pennies are equally clean? Well, after you wash the ketchup off, that is. I'm a mom of three and STEM enthusiast. also after an hour of the salt and vinegar, the salt made the coin super duper weird and worse. This spectacular 5-IN-1 BUNDLE: (Presidents' Day) Wear safety goggles to avoid splash danger. Explore this article things needed 1 Preparation 2 Collect pennies of varying color Collect pennies of varying color. There is a second stage to this experiment that you can also try out, and the only extra materials you will need is two more old pennies and some more paper towels. 'Balloon Powered Rocket, that looks at what house hold solutions will be best to. I am a former teacher turned homeschool mom of four kids. Record your results; photographs are helpful. For this experiment, you will need dirty pennies, paper towels, 1/4 cup of white vinegar, a tsp. But heres the question that Im sure is brewing in your mind. What Juice Cleans Pennies Best Science Fair Projects Set one penny aside to act as your control. Start by placing the Ketchup, 5 minutes penny into the cup labeled Ketchup 5. The friction does the work. Check the coins, then come back again in another 30 minutes and see what has happened to the coins. Observe paper clips next day. Based in Los Angeles, Bridgett Michele Lawrence began working as a freelance writer in 2008. However, over time, they turn dull and dark. Reviewed & Fact Checked byRebecca Carlock.