As I was reading about what metals our Swedish coins contain, I started wondering if it would be possible to extract them.
Going into this experiment, this is what I think I know:
- The Swedish coins that I'll be using, 1 kr and 5 kr, have a core of nickel and an outer layer of 25% copper and 75% nickel.
- A 50/50 solution of acidic acid and hydrogen peroxide will dissolve copper and create a copper acetate solution.
- Nickel won't dissolve in acidic acid without the help of an electrical current
- Copper acetate solution is blue.
- Nickel acetate solution is green.
I prepared two containers with equal amount of acidic acid and hydrogen peroxide and put one coin in each.
After a few minutes a reaction was started and the surface of the coins started bubbling. I did start to notice a blue tint and after leaving it over night this color got stronger.
If my assumptions are correct, this should now be a copper acetate solution from the copper in the coins.
Next I connected the coins, which by now should be mostly nickel, to a 9V battery and placed them in a beaker with only acidic acid. The reaction didn't take long to start and small bubbles began to appear.
After a little while, the solution started to look green so i can only assume that this is the nickel acetate forming.
After a few hours, the green color was really prominent but unfortunately my battery had died. I decided to abort the experiment and see how the coins looked and as you can see, they were not very good looking anymore.
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