How will acid affect dirty pennies?
In this experiment, you will find out how an acid leads to a reducing reaction, and you will explore the movement of atoms during the reaction. Acids are important reducing agents, involved in many common chemical reactions in our daily lives. Pennies are coated with copper oxide (CuO), which forms when copper combines with oxygen from the air. Pennies look dirty when they are coated copper oxide. In this experiment, you will immerse pennies into a mixture of vinegar or lemon juice and salt—which dissolves copper oxide. (Vinegar and lemon juice are weak acids; the salt helps the reaction.) When you put the dirty pennies into the solution, the copper oxide and copper will dissolve into the water. Some of the copper atoms will leave their electrons behind and float in the water as positively charged…
