Penny Cleaning Experiment

My 5 year-old son has been fascinated with science lately (maybe it has something to do with the plastic lab equipment I found at Target’s dollar spot?), and has been asking to do “experiments.” I saw this fun penny experiment the other day at Mom to 2 Lil Posh Divas, and the very same day, we recreated the experiment for ourselves. Definitely check out MT2LPD’s Penny Experiment post because there are a lot of project ideas and details over there.

Show Notes:
Dollar Store Science with Lewis
“The Penny Experiment”

You need:

    About 30 dirty/dark pennies
    3 clear cups
    Water
    Dish soap
    1/2 cup vinegar
    2 teaspoons salt

In the first cup, put plain water.
In the second cup, put water mixed with dish soap.
In the third cup, put 1/2 cup vinegar and 2 teaspoons of salt.

Put pennies in each solution to see which one does the best job of cleaning the pennies.

What do you think the water will do to the pennies?
What do you think the soap & water solution will do to the pennies?
What do you think the vinegar & salt solution will do to the pennies?

Which one will clean the pennies the best?

Let the pennies soak for about five minutes.

While you are waiting, try dipping one dirty penny halfway into each solution. What happens to the half of the penny that is submerged in the solution?