Penny Lab

In this lab we turned a copper penny into gold. We achieved this by soaking the penny into a bowl of sodium hydroxide. While soaking, the penny changed into a silver shade. If the sodium hydroxide gets on skin or eyes, it burns. I believe this also applies to the penny. Burning the copper color, the sodium hydroxide cleans it leaving a smooth, silver slate. After this process was completed, we used tongs to burn the penny over a bunsen burner. Like when something burns, it turns yellowish-tan. This concept was shown in the change of color in the penny. In conclusion, our penny was gold.