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Letter 12848
Science Fair Info
Why do acids clean better than bases, and what cleans a penny
better, baking soda [link is to product info at Amazon] with
water, Tide laundry detergent, lemon juice, coke, or dishwashing
liquid?
Alyssa R.
- Chaska, MN, USA
Hi Alyssa,
There are different types of cleaners for different types of jobs.
Acids don't always clean better than bases, because it depends on
what you're cleaning. I know you wouldn't want to replace your
laundry detergent with an acid cleaner. ;-)
Think about what needs to be cleaned and then you can try to
figure how to clean it. For example, the detergents in dishwashing
liquid are there to remove oily, greasy material from your frying
pan. Taking the oxidation off of a penny, however, requires a
completely different solution because it's a completely different
type of soil.
George Gorecki
- Naperville, Illinois
I wouldn't say that acids clean better than bases. Which one works
better depends more on the type of dirt. As to which liquid will
clean a penny best, I recommend getting some liquids and some dirty
pennies and find out.
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James Totter,
CEF
- Tallahassee, Florida
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I have a question for my research which household liquids cleans a
penny best? So I'm trying to find out on research about this and I
need information about this experiment. I used 7 types of liquids
which are Acetone [link is to product info at Rockler], hot
water, cold water, clorox, vinegar, lemon lime, baking soda. Please
help me.
Aileen E.
- Miami, Florida
You said you used these 7 liquids. What did you find out from
having used them? Which appeared to clean pennies well and which
appeared ineffective? How can we help you interpret your results if
you don't tell us your results?
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Ted Mooney, P.E.
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey
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Ed. note: Please see our F.A.Q. on
cleaning pennies.
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