| Search our quarter-million Q&As |
Home of the finishing HOTLINE since 1989
-----How do Acids Clean Pennies?
I'm a sixth grader, and I'm doing a lab about cleaning pennies right now. I used stuff like vinegar ⇦ in bulk on eBay or Amazon [affil link] , lemon juice, and lime soda because I heard that acids clean pennies better. How do the acids clean the pennies?
Stephi- Palo Alto, California, USA
2001
Yes my 4th grader has a project on solutions that cleans pennies - I need to know what type of solutions does this - and any idea on how we can present this project.
Bobbie Hereford- Atlanta, Georgia
2003
A lemon with some salt will clean a penny.
Vexx E.- New York City, New York, America
2003
A lemon will work but personally vinegar works better cause I am doing a penny experiment in the 8th grade and that is what we used we soaked pennies in vinegar for about 5 minutes we took the pennies out and they were clean. You know what? Ketchup works also.
Kaoru-Dono- Cold Spring, Kentucky, USA
2003
I am also doing a science fair project about which liquids clean pennies the best. I tried to clean pennies with vinegar and it worked pretty well. I tried to clean a dollar coin and some silver coins with vinegar and it made a darkish brown stain. I guess vinegar is too strong of an acid to clean other coins with.
Minh P.- Savannah, GA, USA
2003
Ed. note: Please see our F.A.Q. on the subject.
Sorry! Finishing.com is temporarily Read-Only.
Ted Mooney is retiring but I have several offers to take it over.
We're working hard to make sure we find it the best new home.