Toxicity levels of coins

As a youngster I stuck my finger in a light socket once. Circuit breakers hadn't been invented yet but I survived with no adverse affects.


I started collecting coins shortly after that but I don't think the two are related. Are they?

As a kid, I stuck an automobile cigarette lighter on my lip once. Man that hurt! But I survived.

As a kid, I was watching my feet peddle my bicycle once and ran into the back of a car. Man that hurt! But I survived.

As a kid, I stepped on a rusty nail once. It went all the way through my paratrooper boots and really, really hurt. But I survived.

I remember playing "splits" with a pocket knife as a kid. I took a knife in the big toe and man that hurt! But I survived.

I did swallow a penny once as a kid. That really hurt going down and it never did come out of my ear but I survived.

I've done some really stupid things in my life, as a kid, but never two times in a row much less 424 times in a row.

 

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Just how old are you?

Inspired by the works of American scientist Joseph Henry and English scientist Michael Faraday, the circuit breaker was invented in 1836 by an American, Charles Grafton Page.[SUP][1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_breaker[/SUP]

 

Of course you did. Otherwise, you wouldn't be posting here.

It's dumb to make coins with a composition that's optimized for toxicity -- not only containing a moderately toxic element, but binding it in such a way as to accelerate its corrosion, incidentally making the coin unusable.

Even if nobody ever swallowed them, even if zinc were delicious and nutritious, the inside-out self-destructing cent is a stupid, stupid, stupid idea.

If you're wanting to thin the herd, make your coins out of plutonium. It'll help the economy by improving the velocity of money -- nobody wants to keep it in a pocket for long. And if you accumulate too much of it, it "redistributes" itself, with no government social engineering required!

 

Perhaps I misspoke. Circuit Breakers were not common equipment on houses when I was a kid. Fuses were.

 

I fully agree that zinc was probably not the best choice for a core and cannot help but wonder why steel wasn't chosen?

 

I can see it now, they'll have to get rid of Lincolns bust and the memorial to make room for the warning labels. Cause you know someone will sue and claim that they weren't aware that eating them might be harmful.

 

I have accidentally swallowed a couple of quarters playing drinking games. not sure if they left yet ? its been 20 years

 

Two words: Edge Lettering!

 

One single zinc cent can kill a mammal less than 18 lbs.

This includes virtually all babies and a good percentage of toddlers.

 

I used to play drinking games.

I'd down a quart of "Red Eye" one shot at a time!

Of course, it was cherry koolaid and I was 6.

 

I much preferred drinking my dad's beer over drinking mom's bleach!

 

Fat lab mice?

 

The house I grew up in was built in the 1920s and when I was a kid, it still used fuses.
It wasn't upgraded to circuit breakers until the 60s.

 

who is dumb enough to eat coins??

 

So, it ain't my fault I like to eat bowl of Wheaties every morning

 

New uk pennies are made of copper plated steel, safer than zinc. But do we need pennies? Maybe the us mint has made the pennies out of zinc to have a metal value.

 

Do the coins go back into circulation once they pass through?

 

Did y'alls know that the magnese in war nickels were a carcinogen?

 

That's for sure! I'd expect it to go outta the rump rather than the ear. :devil: