Coating Nails in Copper - HD

My website: http://mattlavoie.org/

The two nails shown were coated in copper by placing them in a solution of vinegar and salt. The copper came from pennies which were also in the solution.

The 'jumps' in the video are where I added more salt and stirred- prompting more bubbling action afterwards.

Music by http://ccmixter.org/people/_ghost/profile

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• timelapse
• nails
• copper
• plating
• pennies
• science
• experiment
• electroplating
• electolysis

[phdharok]

What process did you use to do this? Explain in detail please, I will subscribe if you do.

[TurtleVVisperer]

@phdharok This was a very simple process. I mixed a lot of salt into a vinegar and then placed the pennies in there for a few hours to let the copper come off into the solution. I then added the nails and started recording this video. I've done this again since then using electroplating where I connected electricity to the pennies and nail and it GREATLY increased the speed of this process and was much more effective.

[louis12346]

can you make nails into pennies?

[TurtleVVisperer]

If I could melt the nails down into a penny mold and then coat them I could make counterfeit pennies.

But...

[zcuttlefish]

This is neat but there is a much faster way of doing this: electrolysis. A process that usually takes several hours can take just seconds. Put a copper source on the cathode and a nail on the anode use vinegar as the acid (and heat to reduce corrosion and speed up rxn). Neat vid though.

[TurtleVVisperer]

I have since done that, but at the time of filming I didn't know about it. I'm thinking of making a video of coating pennies in nickel with electrolysis. Thanks for your compliments!

[27simber]

what can you plate....

[beatlesbabe27]

i'm doing a science project on electroplating good video, really helpful.

[depressedone15]

:D Yay.

[TurtleVVisperer]

Thanks, I added a link to the music in the video description.