Hope Rangel 9/3/2012 Density Comparison of Pennies

Pennies Lab

Introduction:
Beginning in 1793, the United States penny was made of 100% copper. In 1857, the materials pennies were made from began changing because they were costing more to make than they were actually worth. Contrary to popular belief, since 1982 it is no longer made of copper but copper-coated zinc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_(United_States_coin), 2012). Due to the different elements, not only does the weight change, but the density changes as well. In order to calculate this change, an experiment must be conducted to find the density of the pre-1982 pennies as opposed to the post-1982 pennies.

Materials:
Graduated Cylinder (100 mL) Water 10 Pre-1982 Pennies 10 Post-1982 Pennies Scale (g)

Procedure:
1. Begin by filling a graduated cylinder with 50 mL of water. 2. Weigh 2 pre-1982 pennies to find their mass. 3. Drop the 2 pennies into the graduated cylinder of water. Measure the displacement. This will give the volume.

Pennies Lab 4. Weigh 2 more pre-1982 pennies. Add this weight to the weight of the first 2 pennies to get the mass of 4 pennies. 5. Drop the 2 pennies into the graduated cylinder with the previous 2 already in it. Take the new amount of water and subtract 50 mL of water away from it. This will be the total of all 4 pennies in the water. 6. Repeat with two more pennies. 7. Repeat with two more pennies. 8. Repeat with two more pennies. 9. Remove all water and pennies from the graduated cylinder. Refill it with 50 mL of water. 10. Repeat steps 2-8 with the 10 post-1982 pennies.

Data: Pre-1982 Pennies

Pennies 2 4 6 8 10 Mass (g) 6.2 12.4 18.6 24.9 31.1 Volume (mL) 1 2 3 4 4.5

Post-1982 Pennies
Pennies 2 4 6 8 10 Mass (g) 5 9.9 14.9 20.4 25.3 Volume (mL) 0.5 1 2 2.5 3

When the experiment was conducted, the post-1982 pennies weighed less and displaced less

Pennies Lab water in the graduated cylinder than the copper pre-1982 pennies, meaning that newer pennies have less mass and volume than the former pre-1982 pennies.

Results & Analysis:

When the weight and the displacement of water of the 2 pennies is found, the mass and volume is found as well. One can now substitute the mass and volume into the formula

d=m/v
to find the density of the pennies.

Pre-1982 Pennies Density

6 Pennies

10

By using the numbers from the pre-1982 experiment in the density formula, 6.2 g/mL is found to be the most common density. Therefore, the density of the pre-1982 pennies in approximately 6.2

Pennies Lab g/mL.

Post-1982 Pennies Density

6 Pennies

10

When the information from the experiment for the post-1982 pennies is substituted into the density formula, the average of the densities is 8.8 g/mL.

From the graphs and densities found, it is apparent that the pennies made after 1982 are more dense (8.8 g/mL) than the pennies made prior to 1982 (6.2 g/mL).

Conclusion:
When tested, the pennies from before 1982 displaced more water and weighed more on the scale than the newer pennies. With this information, we know that the pre-1982 coins have more mass and volume. We also noticed that the mass of the previous coins was more consistent each weigh than

Pennies Lab with the newer pennies which had weights that differed more among the pennies. When the numbers are substituted in the formulas, the pennies made after 1982 had more density than the pennies made prior to 1982.

Limitations:
One major limitation in this experiment is being able to identify the volume of the two pennies. Reading the graduated cylinder is difficult because the displacement is such a small amount.

Pennies Lab

References:
Penny (United States coin). (2012). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_ (United_States_coin)