Take copper off a penney?

Question

I want the inside, basically i want a silver penny (no mercury plating)

Answer 1

drop it in something with a high accidity

Answer 2

[edit] Nitric acid won't work, that's correct.

Zircalium is right, removing the copper is much more difficult than the zinc.

Answer 3

This is very, very difficult.  Copper is less reactive than zinc, and so all copper etching solutions will eat the zinc as well (ferric chloride creates an acidic solution that will surely dissolve zinc, and I have tested persulfate etchants - they eat the zinc too).  Zinc also dissolves better in mercury, so the copper cannot be dissolved out.  Plating the outside with zinc is relatively easy, but this is not what you want, no?

Theodore Gray, the guy behind the wooden periodic table display, has a sample like this.  A friend of his managed to do it using cyanide...not a very attractive method, but it works.  He used potassium persulfate as the oxidizer and cyanide ions to complex the copper.

Answer 4

i doubt it

Answer 5

good luck w/ that try coke Jk idk sry

Answer 6

good for you, its good to want things.

Answer 7

You would have better luck removing the inside.  That is what I do every year as a demo for my chem classes.   Use a file to kick three areas of the rim and place in HCl.  The HCl, which doesn't react with Cu, will dissolve the Zn core, and leave a fragile shell of Cu.

To dissolve Cu with acid, you need nitric acid, since HNO3 is the only acid which will dissolve Cu.  The problem with nitric acid is that it will also dissolve the Zn core.

You could try some solutions that etch copper circuit boards.  That would dissolve the copper.  But I have no idea how they would affect the zinc inside the penny.  Zinc is much more reactive than copper is.   Ferric chloride is sometimes used.

FeCl3(aq) + Cu(s) --> FeCl2(aq) + CuCl(s)

FeCl3(aq) + CuCl(s) --> FeCl2(aq) + CuCl2(aq)

You'll just have to see what the effect of iron (III) chloride will be on zinc.

It appears that Fe(III) ion is easily reducible.

I would assume that the Zn which is higher in the activity series will try to reduce the iron.

Zn(s) + FeCl3(aq) --> ZnCl2(aq) + FeCl2(aq)

Ammonium persulfate is also used as an etchant.

Answer 8

Put zinc into boiling water and drop the penny into the water, holding it with something heat resistant. the color will change.

careful not to get the zinc too hot, the fumes make you cough.