Needs Info for school project on removing rust from pennies
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To whom it may concern, I am a third grade teacher and would like to do a science experiment with my class involving using citric acid to remove rust from pennies. I stumbled across your website. Please send information and/or other websites. Thank you very much. Take care.
Ann B
- Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA
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Do you want web sites or information on cleaning pennies in citric acid, or both?
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Trevor Crichton R&D practical scientist The Pheasantries - Chesham, U.K. |
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I vaguely recall an experiment in one of my son's science books about cleaning pennies with lemon juice. As I recall, the gist of the experiment was to show that the tarnish could be removed from pennies using lemon juice and that the reaction was much faster if a little bit of salt was added to the solution.
The book is long gone, so I don't have the details. Sorry.
Also, in the interest of scientific accuracy - pennies will not have rust. Rust is the product of corrosion of iron and consists of iron oxides and hydroxides. The brown tarnish on pennies will be copper oxides.
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Larry Hanke materials testing laboratory Minneapolis, Minnesota |
Note to students with science projects: Please see our
FAQ on Cleaning Pennies; it will tell you everything you probably want to know! Good luck.
