Copper Penny skeleton
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3D3DPenny skeleton.
This is a very clever sample. It's a known fact that if you leave a post-1982 penny in strong acid (e.g. muriatic acid) long enough, the zinc core will be dissolved away leaving just the copper cladding. Niels took this one step further by first sanding the penny, removing the copper cladding only from the raised areas. Then when the zinc was dissolved away, the result was an incredibly finely detailed stencil. It's quite delicate: You can see in the rotation video that it flutters a bit from the breeze created by the cooling fans of the fiber optic illuminators used to light it.

Now, if only someone could figure out how to dissolve only the copper, leaving the solid zinc core in place!

Source: Niels Carlson
Contributor: Niels Carlson
Acquired: 20 December, 2005
Text Updated: 9 February, 2006
Price: Donated
Size: 0.5"
Purity: >98%
Sample Group: Coins
Copper