The 1944-S steel cent is a very rare coin, with only a couple known to exist. In this experiment, you'll learn how to replicate one using chemistry. You'll need these materials: one of 282.8 million copper 1944-S cents a few strips of solid zinc metal 30 grams of zinc sulfate 100 milliliters of water glass cylinder beaker lab burner pliers Now that you've gathered your materials, put the zinc sulfate in the beaker. Pour in the water. Turn on the heat to 'boil'. As it's going, add in a few strips of solid zinc metal. Drop in the penny. It must touch the zinc metal for the reaction to occur. This takes about 10 minutes. What's happening is the zinc is reacting with the copper and dissolving, while delivering electrons into the copper. The copper, now charged with electrons, will reduce freezing ions into the zinc metal on it's surface giving it a sulfate color. Once you can clearly see the silvery color of the penny, use your pliers to gently remove it from the beaker. Now look at that! You've just turned a copper 1944-S penny into a 'steel' one! Sure, it's a trick, but it looks cool. ---TO TURN IT TO 'GOLD'--- First, the penny you want to turn 'gold' should already be 'silver'. Wash the penny, heat the burner to about 300 Celsius, and place the penny directly onto the hot plate. As it heats up, the zinc defuses into the copper and produces a yellow brass. At first it will look coppery, that's because it's still hot. After you cool it directly with water, it will now appear gold. Don't try to pawn this off as actual gold, though. The brass layer will eventually wear off.:devil:
How hard is it to buy these materials (zinc sulfate and solid zinc metal) and can they be bought off of ebay?
Bad idea. Some kid will find one of them in circulation and come to this website and make a new thread asking if the coin is rare. : )
I did this once, it was fun, I have also copper plated quarters and stuff just for fun, they get brown and look like they were buried
