Is the US "cheap" when it comes to minting coins?

But vitamin tablet labels call it a mineral.



Animal
Vegetable
Mineral.

It comes out of the ground, so it's a mineral.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral


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"Charles R. Kaiser" wrote in message
...
Dave Hinz wrote:
On 11 May 2006 02:14:05 -0700, The Space Boss wrote:

I have to say that I would feel much better if the US would use STEEL
instead of Zinc. Zinc isn't even a metal, it's a mineral.

/me glances over at periodic table

Oh really?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc



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"The Space Boss" wrote in message
oups.com...


I have to say that I would feel much better if the US would use STEEL
instead of Zinc. Zinc isn't even a metal, it's a mineral.


WRONG! Zinc is a metal. It is never found, AFIAK, as a native metal since
it's so reactive, almost always combined with Sulfur as in Sphalerite (Jack,
Ruby Jack, Zinc Blende, or other local names). Copper and Silver are often
found uncombined as nearly pure masses of metal, but they are by far most
commonly extracted from minerals like azurite and malachite for Copper or
various minerals for Silver, including Sphalerite. Gold and Platinum are
almost always found as uncombined native metals since they almost never
chemically combine with non-metallic elements.




*** Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com ***

Zinc isn't even a metal, it's a mineral.
That is not true. It is very definitely a metal

These semantic discussions are always fun
All metals are minerals, but not all minerals are metals.
Zinc is definitely a metallic mineral !

See http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/metal.html

Fantastic page, highly recommended !


Best Regards, Bob Johnson

Directories
--------------------------------------------------
GOLDSHEET Mining http://www.goldsheetlinks.com
COINSHEET Numismatic http://www.coinsheetlinks.com
OILSHEET Energy http://www.oilsheetlinks.com
--------------------------------------------------

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_steel

Which stainless steel contains "no iron"???

I don't think so.

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"bz" wrote in message
98.139...
"The Space Boss" wrote in
oups.com:


Christian Feldhaus wrote:
The Space Boss wrote:

Are other countries using "copper plated zinc" for pennies as well or
is it just the US?

Our small coins (in the European Currency Union) do not contain any
zinc: The 1, 2 and 5 cent coins are made of copper plated steel instead.

Are Canada pennies still copper?

As far as I know, their "copper" coins are also copper plated steel, not
zinc ...

Christian

I have to say that I would feel much better if the US would use STEEL
instead of Zinc. Zinc isn't even a metal, it's a mineral.

Zinc is an element. Iron is an element. BOTH are metals.

Steel is an alloy. Many steels are mostly IRON. Some 'stainless steels'
contain NO iron.

Minerals are naturally occuring. http://dict.die.net/mineral/

Both iron and zinc are sometimes found as 'native' in mineral form.
Usually, however, they are in the form of compounds such as Iron Oxide and
zinc sulfide.

Steel, on the other hand is never found as a mineral, though some iron
meteors have compositions similar to some steels.



--
bz

please pardon my infinite ignorance, the set-of-things-I-do-not-know is an
infinite set.

remove ch100-5 to avoid spam trap

On Thu, 11 May 2006 16:17:18 GMT, Fred Shecter wrote:
But vitamin tablet labels call it a mineral.

Sure, it sells better than calling it a metal.

Animal
Vegetable
Mineral.

It comes out of the ground, so it's a mineral.

So carrots are minerals then? I'm not saying it's not a mineral, but
the statement I thought I saw made was "It's not a metal; it's a
mineral". Far as I see it, it's a metal _and_ a mineral.

Tony Clayton wrote:


See http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/metal.html
which I feel many coin collectors will find of interest.


"A lightweight metal which is cheap and can readily be made into coins.
It does oxidise steadily and inexorably, and so is not a very
satisfactory coinage metal in its pure form. Generally superseded by
aluminium, zinc was used by the Germans for occupation coinage during
the two world wars. The metal is an important constituent of brass. "

I wonder how these coins held up over the years?

Vitameatavegamin


OK, let's try this: It's mined from the Earth, not grown in dirt, so it's a mineral.

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"Dave Hinz" wrote in message ...
On Thu, 11 May 2006 16:17:18 GMT, Fred Shecter
wrote:
But vitamin tablet labels call it a mineral.

Sure, it sells better than calling it a metal.

Animal
Vegetable
Mineral.

It comes out of the ground, so it's a mineral.

So carrots are minerals then? I'm not saying it's not a mineral, but
the statement I thought I saw made was "It's not a metal; it's a
mineral". Far as I see it, it's a metal _and_ a mineral.

"Dave Hinz" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 May 2006 16:17:18 GMT, Fred Shecter
wrote:
But vitamin tablet labels call it a mineral.

Sure, it sells better than calling it a metal.

Animal
Vegetable
Mineral.

It comes out of the ground, so it's a mineral.

So carrots are minerals then? I'm not saying it's not a mineral, but
the statement I thought I saw made was "It's not a metal; it's a
mineral". Far as I see it, it's a metal _and_ a mineral.


Technically (with only a few exceptions) a mineral has to have a crystalline
structure to be a mineral.
Metals, may have a metallic structure and some can have a crystalline
structure
and a mineral doesn't have to be a pure element but it can be. But then
neither does a metal :-)

Oil is legally defined as a mineral and it has no crystalline structure and
there are a few other amorphous
type minerals such as Chrysocolla which is defined as a metamict mineral
which originally
did have a crystalline structure but it was destroyed by natural radiation.

Zinc as a mineral is Zincite which is a Zinc oxide and is found naturally
around Franklin N.J. Its crystal structure is hexagonal.
When you refine it for the element Zn, it loses its crystal structure and
becomes the element Zn which just happens to be a metal
with a metallic structure.

There is an ore of Zinc (Zinc blende) called Sphalerite and it has several
possible crystal structures. It is mostly ZnS.
An interesting point is that ice is a mineral technically but when melted it
is not.

Most (refined) metal is no longer a mineral but it can be an element or an
alloy :-).

Dale

bz wrote:
Steel is an alloy. Many steels are mostly IRON. Some 'stainless
steels' contain NO iron.

This sounded wrong, so I asked my friend with a Ph.D. in Materials
Science. He said that to be a "steel", it has to contain more than 50%
iron. Stainless steels contain at least 11% Chromium, but they're still
mostly iron.

--
Jim Seymour

In a recent message "Dale Hallmark" dalehall"AT"cableone.net wrote:


"Dave Hinz" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 May 2006 16:17:18 GMT, Fred Shecter
wrote:
But vitamin tablet labels call it a mineral.

Sure, it sells better than calling it a metal.

Animal
Vegetable
Mineral.

It comes out of the ground, so it's a mineral.

So carrots are minerals then? I'm not saying it's not a mineral, but
the statement I thought I saw made was "It's not a metal; it's a
mineral". Far as I see it, it's a metal _and_ a mineral.


Technically (with only a few exceptions) a mineral has to have a crystalline
structure to be a mineral.
Metals, may have a metallic structure and some can have a crystalline
structure
and a mineral doesn't have to be a pure element but it can be. But then
neither does a metal :-)

Oil is legally defined as a mineral and it has no crystalline structure and
there are a few other amorphous
type minerals such as Chrysocolla which is defined as a metamict mineral
which originally
did have a crystalline structure but it was destroyed by natural radiation.

Zinc as a mineral is Zincite which is a Zinc oxide and is found naturally
around Franklin N.J. Its crystal structure is hexagonal.
When you refine it for the element Zn, it loses its crystal structure

Um, no. Zinc has a hexagonal close-packed crystal structure. Most, if not all,
metals have a crystalline structure. They are metals because the bonding is
'metallic' which results in large numbers of free electrons being available for
conduction (both thermal and electrical).

In the case of alloys, some have the same structure from pure A to pure B
(Silver-gold and copper-nickel are a good examples), while others do
not - brasses range from pure copper (cubic close-packed) to pure
zinc (hexagonal close-packed) with four intermediate structures
in between, of which three are stable at room temperature.


and becomes the element Zn which just happens to be a metal
with a metallic structure.

There is an ore of Zinc (Zinc blende) called Sphalerite and it has several
possible crystal structures. It is mostly ZnS.
An interesting point is that ice is a mineral technically but when melted it
is not.

Most (refined) metal is no longer a mineral but it can be an element or an
alloy :-).

Dale



--
Tony Clayton
Coins of the UK : http://www.coinsoftheuk.info
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