why does coke/diet coke take the tarnish off a penny?
349341
Thats why soda is so bad for you.  Your basically dumping a can of acid into your body.  I can't even imagine the damage it does in there.
511699
Yes, lemon juice and vinegar will cause iron to rust as well. It's like that old story where they say that putting a tooth in a can of coke for a day will cause the tooth to dissolve, yes it will, but the same could be said for putting a tooth in a glass of orange juice for a day as well. It's the acid in coke that causes the effects you're talking about, an Orange and Lemon juice and Vinegar all have more acid in them than coke does.
164500
One word answer: agitation\n\ncoke and other drinks are "areated" with carbon dioxide under pressure. carbon dioxide does not like stay dissolved in water and bubbles out, causing the fizz effect in sodas.\n\nnow for the carbon dioxide to bubble out, it needs energy. this energy can be supplied by :\n\n* heat : this is the reason why warm coke is less fizzier than cold coke. the carbon dioxide has already bubbled out\n\n* agitation : shaking a bottle of cola, supplies the carbon dioxide enough energy to fizz out. so does pouring coca cola over ice. if you put ice in coke though, you are doing it gently. you would see a lot of fizzing of you threw you ice in with a lot of force \n\nwhen you vend onto ice at mcdonalds, the cola touches ice straight away and has energy taken away from it and hence fizzes less.\n\nhope that clears things up for you :)
131797
Coke....   because it is a dark cola.  Coffee and tea will also do the same thing.
840843
Most refiners do not just take metal sweeps from dental floors. The vast majority of refining scrap come from jewelry and ornament fabricators using gold, silver, and platinum.\n\nTry the refiner at the link below. Very reputable and I have used their services for many years.
381050
My son and I worked on the papertowel comparison test. I am no longer allowed to buy anything but Viva papertowels, LOL! The most interesting project was the Coke test. The test shows how Coke eats away at metal (coins and nails). I have included a web page that is a very good site to go to learn more.\nhttp://www.howstuffworks.com/index.htm
939447
Chemical\nAlloying is the process of "improving" a metal by adding another metal into it to make it a better conductor, stronger material, or whatever the aim is.\nAlloying requires high heating to bond the metals together (and to melt them in the first place), so unless you like your hand being burnt, you don't touch them. \nThe use of dirty pennies carries a greater risk of obtaining, and transfering diseases, so use clean ones. Also, overtime the surface of the alloy will still react with oxygen. Note then that a dirty penny can in fact last longer than a clean one (assuming the dirt does not react) as it has a layer of protection.
385723
Pennies from 1980/81 and before are already pure copper, so no work would be necessary, other than cleaning them.  New pennies are copper-plated zinc.  A simple way to extract the copper is to make a gash in the side of the penny, then drop the penny in some hydrocholoric acid.  The HCL will react with the zinc to form zinc chloride (expelling hydrogen gas), but will not react with the copper.  This will leave you with a thin copper shell (FYI, this is a common high school/general chemistry experiment).  It is actually a fairly cool experiment.
794795
I have explained this many times. First yes it is total bunk. There is no way no how to detox anything through the feet period. These foot bath things work like this, the gunk is simply metals from the two dissimilar metals used as the electrodes, in fact the water will turn the same color even if there is no body part in the water. First you need electrodes made of two different metals, next you need to make the water conductive by say adding a small amount of salt. Next just run a small electric current through the water, there will be an electroplating effect where some of the metal from the electrodes will deposit in the water. Simple as that, this process is used for electroplating metals like gold or silver for example. It is amazing that people will be taken by this, and believe anything they hear. You on the other hand are questioning it and that is healthy. Total and I say total scam, it won't cure anything but it will take money from your wallet.
1080550
The best thing would be to stop drinking soda all together. Diet coke has no fat, calories or sugar, but it's still not "healthy".
1088203
Aaliyah's Mama  - answered part of the question and she is right\nwhen coca cola first came out it was use as a drug to treat eplipsic cause it contained the drug cocaine in it .  Then it became a house hold drink.  \nand for some time they did not know why a lot of people back then were buying it right and let and getting buzzed out of there heads   until a few years later they found traces of cocaine that gave it most of it'e taste  since then coca cola company replaced the drug with arifishal flavor but now it does not contain any of the drug cocaine any more   you might be getting a surgar buzz if anything.
941288
I oppose removal of the penny. The reason you're even asking this question is because Government policy has caused so much inflation, over the years, that the penny is now almost worthless. In fact, as one poster already mentioned, it is worth more, melted down, than it is worth as currency.\n\nWhat we need, in this country, is not removal of the penny. If we remove the penny, it will be a short time until we remove the nickel, then the dime, then the quarter.\n\nThe dollar has lost about 90% of its value, since the USA went off the gold standard, in the early 70s. The reason for this is that the Government has been printing up money like mad. All this extra money causes prices to go up, meaning that the value in each dollar (and coin) goes down.\n\nDon't give up on the dollar. Don't let it turn into some kind of 3rd-world currency, where it takes $20 or more, to buy a gallon of milk. Keep the penny, and insist that the Government return to sound fiscal policies that will restore value to every denomination of our currency.
116095
The type of coke used (diet coke, regular coke, sprite, pepsi, ...) matters very little since they are all pretty much the same (excluding flavor).\nSodas are slighly acidic since they have carbon dioxide dissolved in them (which forms carbonic acid in water).  However, I seriously doubt there is enough of that weak acid in solution to dissolve an entire nail.  It may be corroded, but a single can (or even a 12 pack) I dont think will be able to dissolve it in any short period of time.\nAt some point, the effects of the acid reacting on the iron will probably be overshadowed by the effects of the water rusting the iron instread.
1165893
sometimes, your own perspiration causes metals to corrode.  This has to do with the composition on your sweat.  It's the same reason that some jewelry that isn't gold turns green after a while.
644899
the coke should eat the shell away you get the same effect by leaving it in vinegar for to long I believe.
726054
Hydrogen peroxide can oxidize copper metal on the surface of the penny by displacing it as copper(II) ions.  See link for detail explanation.
74385
I also vote for Coke. We use it at home to remove rust from screws and bolts.