Impressive research, Mike... But, quite to my surprise with the girls and all, you seem to have a little too much free time on your hands...

Does it work on silver too?

I think pennies made before 1982 were made with loads of copper. Problem arose when people found out the value of the copper contained in the penny was worth more than 1 cent.

Pennies made after 1982 were made with a much higher zinc content, which has resulted in a much brighter shinier look.

Ummm, it seems in the end you could have found the article and corresponded with the scientist and had your answer without all of the rigamarole...

Yes, but the rigamarole is a lot more fun, Captain Buzzkill.

Hey Michael, it wasn't til I saw this that I realized I never thanked you for the CD you sent me... I apologize for that and offer a belated thank you; you are a lifesaver. Also, when I am the world-famous director of the cult classic B-movie The Home Purchase That Ate An Entire Summer I'll be sure to send you an autographed copy of the director's cut :D

It's not the destination that matters...

Lemon juice and salt works like a charm for cleaning copper saucepans. Cut a lemon in half, sprinkle the cut end liberally with salt and use as a scouring pad.

I had concerns. Vague concerns, the origin of which I could not place.

Thankfully now I know, and they have been put to rest, much to my relief!

Thank you. THANK. YOU. I won't forget this.

I tried your recipe and found the pennies to be quite tasty and moist. A bit too chewy maybe, but still enjoyable to the palette.

Your article was VERY funny. Got your link from Fark.

I'm now a fan.

We learned about the salt and vineager technique in High School chemistry ('bout 7 years ago for me) - only to clean rust instead of pennies. I still keep a bottle of vineagar around to de-rust random iron stuff that I run into, like a baking tray that the non-stick coating wore off on. (rinse really quickly with water, or else it'll re-rust even worse than before; and you'll probably want to "season" your pan by coating it with some sort of oil and putting it in the oven for a half hour at some reasonable temperature)

btw, from that same chemistry class, to deal with silver tarnish: Take a bowl, coat the inside with aluminum foil. Pour in a mixture of warm water and lime (or lemon, or any other acid - doesn't have to be too much, either). The resulting "electrolysis" will bind the tarnish to the foil, leaving the silverware polished. Haven't actually tried this one yet, so I can't garuantee that it'll work.

(also got here through fark)

Hello. I found myself over here by way of Fark. I am a Chemical Engineer, and your article put a smile on my face. I'm glad to see someone really interested in practical applications of old fashioned chemistry.

Nice to know that 2 Mike's are interested in chemistry. Perhaps you would like to check out some small incidents that ocurred during this Wednesday's Organic Synthesis Workshop.

You are so talented!
Everytime I read this, I smile.
So cool!

Jeff -
You're right - 1982 was the last year for the all-copper penny.
Since then, they're minted from zinc, then plated in copper. So the appearance is actually the same.

Fun illustration - scratch the edge of a penny so you can see the zinc inside (it's silver-colored). Then drop it in hydrochloric acid (available at hardware stores as muriatic acid - be careful!) until it stops bubbling.

You'll be left with the thin copper shell - the zinc will all dissolve.

And you guys have no problem just putting this stuff inside your bodies...

Interesting analysis..

Back on the subcontinent we've always used lemon juice to clean metalware - brass, copper, etc. Scrubing with a bit of fine sand ads grit and aids cleaning..

Seemed to me that salt in weak vinegar would be similar..

If only we could harness this energy... oh wait, you did.

If you knew any chemical freaks, they could have told you it was the acetic acid that was doing the cleaning, but it wouldn't have been as funny.

Look you little jerks, if you keep up messing with this site you will be in for some trouble.

I know exactly who to call in Colorado Springs to get you into trouble over this.

Great! Except how do you clean those 1943 (?) Steel pennies?

Since the inside of a penny is zinc...what happens when you use one of those penny smashing machines? Does more zinc surface? I would think so. What's the formula for cleaning the smashed pennies? THAT would be most helpful.

BTW--great site. Loved the explanation.