Brass penny

[Cat J]

I found a yellow penny. I know i read someplace about Brass plated pennies. Does anyone know anything about them?

Thanks
Cat

 

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[Silver_Fox]

Experiment 5

"Gold" Penny Lab


Forming Brass from Zinc and Copper


Objective: The objective of this lab is to use a post-1983 penny to produce a thin layer brass alloy and a pre-1983 penny to make a bronze alloy.


Scientific Principles:


In order to save expensive copper, penny coins, starting in 1983, were made of zinc with a thin layer of copper plated on the surface. If these coins are heated, the zinc will diffuse into the copper layer, producing a surface alloy of zinc and copper. These alloys are brasses. Not only does the zinc change the properties of copper, but also the color of the brasses changes with zinc content - reaching a golden yellow color at around 20% zinc and golden at 35-40% zinc. Copper also oxidizes when heated in air, producing a black layer of copper oxide (CuO). Thus when heated, there is a competition between the rate of oxidation (making the surface black) and the rate of diffusion (making the surface a golden-yellow color). Bronzes are alloys containing tin and copper.

 

[Sheldius]

There is a site selling brass planchet error coins. If they are truely brass all the way through, they should have a different gram wieght. Ordinary 1982+ zinc/copper coated weigh 2.5g.

The ones on the site below have been examined and have two different layers (brass on top of copper) so they probably weren't made in the above experiment. I noticed that he blanked out the part of the US Treasury letter dealing with how to diffuse zinc to the surface.

http://koinpro.tripod.com/Brass.htm

Hope you have the real deal.

HH.