Test whether the pennies you find at the end of your rainbow are more valuable than just a cent!
Supplies: paper towel, plastic lid, vinegar, pennies
What to do:
Fold the paper towel into a small square and soak it generously with white vinegar. Place soaked towel on a plastic lid and place the pennies on top of the towel.
Check your pennies regularly over the next few hours to see if the towel or the pennies themselves are changing colour. Is anything turning green?
If your penny turns the paper towel green, or if it turns green itself, then it has a high percentage of COPPER in it. The vinegar helps create a reaction between the copper in the penny, and oxygen in the air, making things turn green!
Tip: to see even more green, dip the pennies entirely into vinegar and then place them on the paper towel to dry. If you’re doing this at preschool or daycare, do it at the start of the day and check results throughout the day.
In the USA, pennies were made with 95% copper until 1982. Then copper became more valuable than the penny itself, so they started making pennies out of mostly zinc.
In Canada, pennies were made with 98% copper until 1996. After that, they started being made out of 98% zinc.
If your penny turned green, it has more copper in it than a penny that doesn’t change colour! It’s copper value is worth more than just 1 cent!