Weird Science Wednesday

Alchemy 101

You Will Need

• 5/8 cup of Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of Salt
• 12 Pennies (dull ones work best)
• Spoon
• Paper Towel
• Ungalvanized Iron Nail

Method

• Add the vinegar to a bowl and stir in the salt.
• Place coins in the bowl. (Make sure they are completely submerged.)
• Leave coins in the bowl for 5 minutes.
• Retrieve coins from the bowl using the spoon and let them dry on the paper towel; do not dump out the vinegar and salt mixture.
• Add the nail to the bowl of liquid and keep it there for 30 minutes. Observe tiny bubbles forming around the nail.
• Carefully take the nail out of the bowl and set it on the paper towel to dry. It should appear to be COPPER!

The Science
In the first stage of the experiment, the vinegar solution "cleaned" some of the copper off the coins. This copper remained in the solution (with the vinegar and salt), which in turn had a chemical reaction with the iron on the surfaqce of the nail. as part of this reaction, a chemical exchange left a copper coating on the nail. This type of chemical addition of a metallic layer is called plating; you have created a copper plated nail! Next Stop: GOLD!