Copper Plated Nail

Everyone loves nails.

What better to pound into a board with a hammer? But what about a copper plated nail?

Yes, a copper plated nail is probably the most useless invention known to man. If you use it, the copper will probably scrape off. However, it's pretty fun to make. No wiring or hacking involved. A six year old can do this very relaxing project.

Today's project is very laid back and easy to understand, and it involves creating this elusive copper plated nail.

You will need the following.

10-20 United States Pennies. They must be the dull kind. Newer, shiny pennies will not work. It needs to be the dull, darker colored, older ones from before the late 1980s. Trust me, they aren't hard to find. For obvious reasons, the 1943 steel pennies from WWII will not work either.

A couple of lemons (limes will probably work as well, but I haven't tested them).

Container, any material.

Steel Wool

Squeeze out the lemons into the container. Now, dump the pennies into the container. Make sure that the lemon juice completely covers the pennies.

Grab your steel nail and give it a rinse under the faucet. Take your steel wool and scrub the nail vigorously for a minute or two. This removes the oxidation that has built up on your nail. This is always required: Oxygen reacts with nearly everything. After scrubbing, rinse off the nail one last time. Once it is nice and clean, drop it in the lemon/penny solution. Again, make sure it is completely submerged. If not, add more lemon juice.

Go to sleep. Seriously, all you have to do now is leave it overnight, so feel free to take a nap. In 5-12 hours, it will be finished. To check, simply remove the nail from the juice. If it has a shiny copper colored sheen, you are finished.

Here's how it works: The highly acidic lemon juices dissolves the copper off of the old pennies (new pennies use so little copper that you can't even plate the nail). It then deposits it on the clean nail. If it still had its oxidation cover, this would not work.

When all is said and done, you are left with an interesting and shiny copper nail. Hang it on your wall or something.

Questions? Use the Comment function!