2. Step 2: Dip one penny halfway into the liquid. This activity helps students to see and experience the properties of water- including Adhesion, Cohesion, and Surface Tension. Well keep that in mind. Kids will get all the supplies they need to complete the activities in addition to a cool lab book .Subscribe here. MAKE IT AN EXPERIMENT. Its that dull dark color that coats old coins. I used this experiment for my science class and my teacher was super impressed. Repeat step 4 two more times. Place the pennies in the bowl, and allow them to sit for several minutes. So, the results of your kids coin cleaning experiment should be that the ketchup and the vinegar and salt mixture were the best coin cleaners. The pennies will be cleaner and brighter than before. Lab, Students of all ages have fun doing this easy, ! Conclusion: The hypothesis was proven true, and the pennies, were best cleaned by the strongest acid, which in this experiment was lemon juice. Seven Layer Density Column Science Experiment, Exploding Popsicle Stick Bomb Tutorial An Energy Experiment For Kids. This easy and fun science experiment teaches kids about chemical reactions in a way that seems like magic! Hi, I'm Kim! Put one penny in each of the liquids and make sure it's fully submerged. Here is a step by step walkthrough of the experiment so you dont get forget what to do or lose track of where you are: Once this is all done, you may be tempted to clean everything but not yet! To remove this tarnish, an acid needs to be used to weaken the bonds between the copper and oxygen atoms. You dont need any fancy gadgets or science kits to clean these coins, all you need are a few household ingredients and you will have shiny new coins in less than an hour. Before you start, its important to take note that for this cleaning coins experiment to work, you need coins made of copper; otherwise, this will not work. If you want things to be fun and messy, you can always have your kids use their hands as long as you are happy to deal with the consequences of ketchup-coated fingers! The vinegar cleans the penny due to the acid in the vinegar. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Learn how to wash Rothy's shoes so your go-to flats and loafers always look their best. After 10 minutes, take the coins out of the cups and lay them out on some kitchen paper but do not dry them! 1/2 cup vinegar. Easy for planning and implementing, and the students love it. This is a weak acid, which is good since we ingest it. by Brenda Priddy | Jul 12, 2017 | Homeschool |. Hypothesis: If I use 4 different products to clean pennies, adding each product to the a plastic dish (not mixing together), I predict that out of the 4 products, ketchup, fabuloso, coke, and lemon juice that lemon juice will clean a penny the best. You can only guess how highly acidic this ketchup must be! Pennies rust overtime. What do your results tell you about the special properties of copper pennies? Now when you dipped it into the salt + vinegar solution and then air-dried it, it also took with it some chlorine which is often found in salt.