What causes pennies to like this greenish yellow color

Top pennies Are to show the difference in bottom ones

 

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Top ones are copper and lower ones are zinc. the stopped making copper penny's in 1982 and used zinc to make them.

 

I'm convinced zinc pennies are biodegradable.

 

Can you explain why you think that just curious trying learn

 

Zinc coins rot very quickly. Zinc also tones differently than copper.

 

I metal detect a little sometimes. Certain zincolns I find look like they've started rotting away.

 

Th toning difference is that the copper/zinc cents are covered with a thin layer of 100% copper ( very reactive chemically, and a bronze cent is 95% copper on the outside,( 5%zinc in the mix).

 

Heh, I've pulled a few Zincolns from a coinstar reject tray that were almost gone.