Tiny Matters [BONUS] Making magenta pennies and touching the sun: Tiny Show and Tell Us #35
Nov 19, 2025
Discover the fascinating process of transforming pennies into vibrant colors, from golden hues through zinc plating to a rainbow through oxide films. Hear how heating copper creates stunning color sequences and the practical tips for safe experimentation. Dive into NASA's Parker Solar Probe mission, designed to study the sun's corona and solar wind. Learn about the probe's remarkable speed and heat shielding technology, and explore how space weather impacts our planet with valuable insights gleaned from this groundbreaking mission.
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Listener Email Sparked A Penny Deep-Dive
- Maria wrote in saying you can turn a penny gold by throwing it into acid, which sparked research.
- Sam and Deboki found the classic demo actually uses zinc plating and heat rather than acid.
How Pennies Turn Golden
- Heating zinc-plated pennies diffuses zinc into copper to form brass, producing a golden appearance.
- The process first creates gamma brass then alpha brass, changing the coin's color from silvery to yellow.
Quench Heat To Preserve Penny Colors
- Heat copper-containing coins to form a cuprous oxide film and produce a sequence of colors.
- Quench the coin in water at the desired color to stop the reaction and preserve that hue.