1982 Copper vs Zinc Penny

You can flick (ping) the coin in the air. Hitting it
with your thumb nail. As it spins the copper will
have a ring to it the zinc will go thud!


"Bob Flaminio" wrote in message
...
Bob and Dee wrote:
Can anyone tell me how to tell the difference between Zinc and
Copper pennies?

The only way to tell is by weight. The copper weighs about 3.11 grams
and the zinc weighs about 2.5 grams. You need a very sensitive scale
to measure these.

Not at all -- you can do it with a pencil and a popsicle stick.

--
Bob

Bob Flaminio wrote:

Bob and Dee wrote:
Can anyone tell me how to tell the difference between Zinc and
Copper pennies?

The only way to tell is by weight. The copper weighs about 3.11 grams
and the zinc weighs about 2.5 grams. You need a very sensitive scale
to measure these.

Not at all -- you can do it with a pencil and a popsicle stick.

--
Bob

Yes, indeed. IMO, a half gram is not an unsubstantial difference.
Having handled a bajillion one cent coins in my roll searches, I can
tell the difference between Zincolns and copper cents by balancing the
piece on my fingertip. Thickness is another indicator, as is
appearance. If you examine enough of them, separating the 1982's
becomes pretty easy.

Alan
'penny inspector'

On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 02:50:58 GMT, e wrote:
In article , "Bob Flaminio" wrote:

Not at all -- you can do it with a pencil and a popsicle stick.

hey, i invented that!

Heh...as a "smart-ass tech", I used basically the same trick to find the
balance point on a large, heavy, off-center power supply. Chunk of pipe
on the ground, supply on top (large longish box), rolled supply on pipe
until it balanced. He was off calculating weights and torques, and was
a bit annoyed that I solved his problem in about 20 seconds after he'd
wasted much time on it. (we were designing a lifting fixture that had to
be balanced right).

Dave Hinz

On 27 Oct 2005 21:52:49 -0700, ras wrote:

Scott Stevenson wrote:
...
Hmmm--I wonder what would happen if you heated a Zlincoln above the
melting point of the zinc, but below the melting point of the copper
coating.

the zinc oozes out.

And you get a foil-thin, wrinkled penny shaped object.

If you cut the Zinc cents up and throw them in pool acid, they make hydrogen gas. Really. Put a balloon over a pop bottle and it inflates with hydrogen. That burns up reaaaal geewwwd.

--keith
"Barry & Barb" wrote in message ...
Hi,
Can anyone tell me how to tell the difference between Zinc and Copper
pennies?
TIA
Barry Schell




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On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 19:17:04 GMT, "fletch"
wrote:

If you cut the Zinc cents up and throw them in pool acid, they make hydrogen gas. Really. Put a balloon over a pop bottle and it inflates with hydrogen.
That burns up reaaaal geewwwd.

Is that an SCTV reference I see?

take care,
Scott
"may the Good Lord take a likin' to ya, and blow ya up real soon!"

Just to add--there are no copper '82D small dates. So what you want is to
find one of those only made of zinc.
The lowest minted was the '82D zinc small date at an est. 100 million.
All '82's are scarce in high grades so the higher graded coins are
relatively expensive to buy. It is quite easy to find all 7 types but it's
very difficult to find eye appealing '82's. They didn't make any mint sets
in 1982 so finding any without the dreaded roll friction or counting machine
damage is quite a challenge.

"bri" wrote in message
news
Just to add--there are no copper '82D small dates. So what you want is to
find one of those only made of zinc.
The lowest minted was the '82D zinc small date at an est. 100 million.
All '82's are scarce in high grades so the higher graded coins are
relatively expensive to buy. It is quite easy to find all 7 types but it's
very difficult to find eye appealing '82's. They didn't make any mint sets
in 1982 so finding any without the dreaded roll friction or counting
machine
damage is quite a challenge.

Oops--It's the '82D zinc Large date that's the lowest mintage of around 100
million. There are no '82D copper small dates.
Had to look that one up again.

(Scott Stevenson) wrote:

Hmmm--I wonder what would happen if you heated a Zlincoln above the
melting point of the zinc, but below the melting point of the copper
coating.

I used to do this over a bunsen burner in high school chemistry class.

If you cut a small nick in the side of the cent, you can heat it up
until the zinc melts. Squeeze it with tongs, and the zinc pops out
leaving a thin copper shell behind.

Back then, I wondered why this didn't always work properly. Now I
know!

That works if you own any unchewed pencils and popsicle sticks. My
reference to a sensitive scale was that you couldn't use your bathroom
scale. You need a scale that weighs in grams.

The comments about hearing the difference is fine, unless you've got bad
hearing, like I do.

The would-be chemists in this group scare me just a little.

Bob (the other one)

"Bob Flaminio" wrote in message
...
Bob and Dee wrote:
Can anyone tell me how to tell the difference between Zinc and
Copper pennies?

The only way to tell is by weight. The copper weighs about 3.11 grams
and the zinc weighs about 2.5 grams. You need a very sensitive scale
to measure these.

Not at all -- you can do it with a pencil and a popsicle stick.

--
Bob