My two youngest daughters (Curly Q and Red) participated in a local homeschool science fair on Friday, April 1, 2022. It has been nice to participate with a homeschool co-op in our city.
Drum roll, please! I am proud to introduce "Cleaning President Lincoln."
The goal of the science fair was to reinforce the six steps of the scientific method.
- Ask a Question
- Do Background Research
- Construct a Hypothesis
- Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment
- Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion
- Communicate Your Results source
Question:
Which household items clean pennies the best?Hypothesis:
Curly Q - I believe vinegar will clean pennies the best.Red - I believe lemon juice will clean pennies the best.
Materials Use:
1. | 9 pennies | dirty and dated 1983 |
2. | 9 jars | clear and with lids |
3. | vinegar | 15 mL per jar (in a total of three jars) |
4. | lemon juice | 15 mL per jar (in a total of three jars) |
5. | ketchup/water mixture | 10 mL of ketchup per jar/5 mL of water per jar (in a total of three jars). |
Experiment Procedure:
- looked for 1983 pennies
- measured household ingredients
- poured those ingredients into the jars
- dropped pennies into the jars
- shook the jars every day for 12 days
- scooped the pennies out of the jars
- washed the pennies
- observed the results
Analysis
1 | 2 | 3 | |
---|---|---|---|
vinegar | change: low | change: low | change: low |
corrosion: low | corrosion: low | corrosion: medium | |
lemon juice | change: high | change: low | change: medium |
corrosion: low | corrosion: medium | corrosion: high | |
ketchup/water | change: low | change: low | change: low |
corrosion: low | corrosion: low | corrosion: low |
Observation:
lemon juice cleans pennies the bestWhy 1983 pennies?
- older, therefore dirtier
- made from 97.5% zinc and plated with a thin copper coating
- less valuable than pennies made from 95% copper
Conclusion
My kiddos stepped out of their comfort zone. That made me a proud papa! They did great with both the poster board and their spoken presentation.
will apply the scientific method to other aspects of their lives.
The cycle of ASKING - RESEARCHING - CONSTRUCTING - TESTING - ANALYZING - COMMUNICATION will serve them well.
Thanks for stopping by our virtual homeschool science fair!
I want to hear from you.
- Has your child participated in a science fair?
- What was the topic of your child's presentation?
Thanks for stopping by!
Sadly, numismatic societies considered cleaned coins to be chemically damaged; so, when you clean pennies, the pennies lose any numismatic value they may have had. So, while cleaning pennies is a fun science experiment, it is not a good financial move.
A fun experiment is to get a jeweler's scale and to weigh the pennies. Copper pennies should weigh over 3 grams. Zinc pennies weigh something like 2.6 grams.
Someone found a 1983D penny that was on a copper blank a few years back. I did a Google search which claimed the penny sold for $15,000.
@yintercept - I really appreciate your comment. I agree that cleaned (aka "chemically damaged") does not add value.
I was probably not as careful as I should have been when helping my kiddos select their 1983 pennies, but I know we did not have a copper blank variation that you referenced above.
Thank you for adding a new dimension to the conversation.
This is awesome. Nice work ont hat project. I failed my kids this year due to work things. We did a home science project after the fact.
WE did what would catch an egg the best without breaking it.
@dkid14 - Life happens! That is the main reason I have been away from Hive for so long.
I am sure your kiddos appreciate the home science fair. Finding the best way to catch an egg is a class!
Well done, this is exactly the kind of experiment that we always do when I was in elementary and high school. When the time comes I am going to do some experiments using this scientific method with my son.
@afterglow - Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. It is great for parents to help their kiddos think through the scientific method.
I hope you and your son have a great time working on experiments together!
You're welcome (^_^) have a nice day ahead.
Thanks for your curation/support!
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