Will soaking a proof coin in acetone put spots on the finish?

I give up.... Let those who 'think' they know something, parrot on and demonstrate how little they know, so the rest of us can just chuckle....secure in the knowledge gained through education and experience.

 

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You should've listened to Dr. Bentz, because organic chem is so cool.

The "charged end" bit is polarity, and as it turns out, water's actually highly polar. Acetone less so, and xylene not at all.

Polar solvents tend to be better at dissolving stuff that's polar. Salt and mineral deposits are ionic ("polar and then some"), so they dissolve in water.

Non-polar solvents tend to be better at dissolving stuff that's non-polar. Grease, wax, and organic gunk are non-polar, and dissolve in xylene.

Acetone is not very polar. In my experience, it also does a good job on grease and such, but I don't know enough to talk about where it's better or worse than xylene. Acetone has the advantage of mixing with water, which means that it can attack damp gunk where xylene would just roll off.

These solvents aren't actually breaking up molecules of organic stuff; they're just carrying them off into solution.

Dips (acids and complexing agents) actually do break chemical bonds. That's a different process, but it's lunchtime, and I've probably already talked beyond my own level of expertise, so I'll stop here.

 

I stuck with ceramic engineering so anything under 1300C is cool (temp wise). The fun stuff doesn't start until 1700-1800C. By then, all the organics have burnt off, so why worry about them

 

Thanks, but until someone shows it firsthand, I'm not going to start promising it will work. I believe it will work, but I have no firsthand proof or evidence. I'm looking forward to seeing before and after reports.

 

I require use of my sealed glass jars for something else. Unfortunately, I cannot give up my jars for a year.

 

I understand if you don't trust people like Boltzmann, Lewis, Pauling, et al. Sooner or later, someone from CT will post some fuzzy pics from a kitchen experiment showing indisputable results.

 

I'm not ashamed to admit that I have made an error in my experiment. I did not change out the acetone because it did not look dirty after dipping out some early 1900's Lincoln's.

Once the acetone evaporated I was shocked at what was left at the bottom of the small bowl. Green sludge that looked like Ghostbuster slime.

I learn more by making threads and asking/reading responses than I do searching the net for info that could or could not be true. I will still post my photos in a few days.

Teaching moment for myself and others.

 

It is a major revelation to me that you don't believe in science, and negatively impacts my personal opinion of you. Go do the experimentation yourself; if you're not going to believe centuries of accumulated scientific knowledge you're not going to believe any pics we might post, anyways.

 

Now that I know I was wrong, a fresh batch of acetone will take those spots off?

 

Haha, you're killing me Dave. I believe it, I just don't have a strong enough understanding of science to say I understand and can preach it. I haven't read the text books, I don't have the knowledge. A few simple photos would let me say "yes, I've seen it work". Otherwise, I have no possible way of saying I know for sure it will work.

 

So you are claiming that the residues of your impure acetone (impure after submerging a coin in it and allowing for evaporation) are changing the coin? Just ridiculous.... do a fast acetone rinse, followed by alcohol rinse and all will disappear....Acetone cannot, and will never, affect metal... the re-deposition of impurities are not a metallic reaction.

 

Negative. I said I was incorrect.

 

I have no idea who any of you are. I haven't read anything published regarding the science of acetone so I don't preach it because I don't have firsthand knowledge. I do research before I start promising something works. If I at least see an experiment, I can quote it, even with a link. I think you're being a little bit obtuse here.

 

I'm not joking here; I'm genuinely dismayed and disheartened by your attitude. Every chemist affiliated with this site acknowledges the scientific reality, as does any collector/member who's done enough reading to understand it. The only "adverse" outcomes I've had with acetone-washing coins - and I reiterate, every single raw coin I buy goes into acetone (and you know I concentrate on copper) - are hidden flaws revealed by the soak.

This is the equivalent of denying climate change because you haven't done the research yourself. Given the deserved level of respect you enjoy around here, the seeds of doubt you are sowing are a serious hindrance to properly educating people on the topic, especially in the presence of others who have convinced themselves that reality is wrong.

Like the guy who just advocated going after a coin's surface with toothpaste.

 

Dave, this is hardly the same as denying climate change, starting with the fact that I'm not denying it works. #1 there's tons of data on the topic of climate change, published by scientists, that I can google and read up on from scientific journals. When I google acetone and coins, I get coin websites with usernames and not scientific community acknowledged research papers. #2 I don't know any chemist affiliated with this site as I haven't met any. I've only met a select couple of people from CT. I don't know who the people are who are posting. #3 I'm not denying it works, I'm saying I haven't read anything on the matter and do not know it to be true to the point where I would tell someone else to do it. All I can do right now is say "so and so said it works" and I don't know who so and so is. #4 I'm happy to read up on the matter if there's something out there published, but I'm also happy to remain in the "unknown" category as I don't expect that I will know everything in life.

Please do not take my unwillingness to jump on the party line and promise it works based on folks with random usernames typing away. I

 

NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION...OUR TWO MAIN WEAPONS ARE FEAR, TERROR AND...OUR THREE MAIN WEAPONS...

 

Well, I do claim to be a chemist (organic chemist at that) and have gone into to many scenarios thinking I would know what would happen, only to have to do a fast two-step about why something happened that I didn't predict. Chemistry is a very "picky" science and things can happen that are not immediately obvious. That being said, acetone is only a solvent and AFAIK does not react with any metals except for the report Doug has put on here a couple of times of a reaction of copper with acetone under strong ultra-violet light. Let's see what happens.

 

I am assuming these are before and after photos?

 

Yes sir. And I can say that since Kentucky is a chemist, I have met a CT chemist in person.