Is it possible to melt a penny

The public can offer comments to the U. Mint on the regulations for the next 30 days. Moy will take those comments into consideration and then issue the final rule within days. It's just not worth the effort. We'll notify you here with news about. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest?

Find a penny, melt it, and you could get locked up. When you remove the penny from the battery, the outside will blacken, also across the whole area of the coin. This is known as oxidation , and since the older older penny is composed of mostly copper it will be more prevalent. When you do the same experiment with a penny which was minted after , you will wind up with different results. You will also be able to see the silver colored zinc showing from the center of the penny where chunks of it have melted away.

Experiment: How to make a quarter look like a huge penny. How to Make a Potato Battery. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Image courtesy of Exploritarium. Therefore, it is technically profitable to melt pennies.

Again, melting pennies for a profit is currently illegal under US law. But if it was legal, the decision to melt pennies for profit is ultimately up to you. Zinc melts at C, and the copper layer will generally burn away when you melt that, leaving oxide behind. Pennies from before , however, are pure copper, and would melt at C.

The answer is no: it is not illegal to make jewelry out of coins. It only becomes illegal if a person is attempting to fraudulently alter the coin.

Consider the penny smashing machine at national parks and many other government and public attractions. Code is 18 U. Copper bullion coin rings would be likely to leave a green color under the ring but unless you have an allergy to copper jewelry, you will most likely have no side effects.

The chemical interaction between the salts in your skin and the metal in the ring may also tarnish the ring itself. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel.