Penny Experiment

Last year for Christmas
Scholar received a science kit.
But we didn't have time to pull it out,
until September.
He had patiently waited a LONG time!

He loved the safety glasses.

And the magnifying glass.

But the tweezers were nearly useless ...
since they will not go into any of the test tubes.

Nifty cards gave him a starting point for experiments.

And he quickly set up an experiment.

Cleaning pennies .... in water or lemon juice.

We added soapy water

And vinegar as well.

After 24 hours of soaking,
Scholar carefully drained out each of the experiments.

This scoop came in his sand box pail ...
not in the science kit.

He carefully laid out each set of pennies....

Water on top
lemon juice on bottom.

soapy water

vinegar

 

 

He carefully shined each penny.

 

His conclusion...

Lemon juice worked the best,
then vinegar and soapy water about the same
(especially since he kept shaking the pennies during the experiment)
and the plain water only worked a little bit.

And pennies that were not very dirty in the first place,
they cleaned up the best.



This kit would be better suited for a younger child.

But it does make a great first kit for a young scientist.

It looks like it will hold up pretty well,
so once we get "real" replacements -
some parts may well become a "free play" or tub toy.


It ranges between $20 and $35 - depending on where you buy.
But I feel even the $20 is overpriced.