Where the heck can I find some Zinc to do some plating?

[Dave70968]

<mumble grumble...making me think this late at night...>

I remember from high school chemistry* making penny shells. We'd file nicks in the copper, the drop the pennies into HCl to dissolve out the zinc (the copper was left untouched). The point of the exercise was to determine the relative fractions of copper and zinc (a simple matter of weighing the before and after products), but one notes that HCl (hydrochloric acid; read: "muriatic acid," which refers to a specific strength of the former, and is available at your local Lowe's or Home Despot) dissolves zinc while leaving copper unharmed.

It seems reasonsable that one could precipitate the zinc out of solution by neutralizing the acid. It's way too late at night (early in the morning) to work it out, but I wonder if sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) wouldn't do the trick. Acid + base -> water + salt; sodium + cloride -> table salt, the carbonate leading to CO2...

...just thinking. Anybody with real chemistry knowledge want to weigh in?

 

[emapples]

I agree with everything you said. The only thing that bothers me, is your description of the stretch I might do and the things that might go on during the stretch. Sounds like my neighbors last Super bowl party.

They FBI just performed a raid in Ponca City last week, the hazardous material in question .....yep you guessed melted pennies ..........

 

[druryj]

I agree with everything you said. The only thing that bothers me, is your description of the stretch I might do and the things that might go on during the stretch. Sounds like my neighbors last Super bowl party.

See? There you go braggin' about the high-class neighborhood you live in now too. Man, the judge gonna throw the book at you, you dang coin-defacer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[steelfingers]

<mumble grumble...making me think this late at night...>

I remember from high school chemistry* making penny shells. We'd file nicks in the copper, the drop the pennies into HCl to dissolve out the zinc (the copper was left untouched). The point of the exercise was to determine the relative fractions of copper and zinc (a simple matter of weighing the before and after products), but one notes that HCl (hydrochloric acid; read: "muriatic acid," which refers to a specific strength of the former, and is available at your local Lowe's or Home Despot) dissolves zinc while leaving copper unharmed.

It seems reasonsable that one could precipitate the zinc out of solution by neutralizing the acid. It's way too late at night (early in the morning) to work it out, but I wonder if sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) wouldn't do the trick. Acid + base -> water + salt; sodium + cloride -> table salt, the carbonate leading to CO2...

...just thinking. Anybody with real chemistry knowledge want to weigh in?

I think that's what killed Curley. No, this has passed my learning curve. But interesting.
Have a friend that has a masters in Chem. Eng. and I'll call him today. Of course the answer that could be 10 minutes long will end up an hour and a half.
Just kidding.

 

[Pokinfun]

https://hubpages.com/education/Separating-Zinc-and-Copper-from-a-Penny

 

[OKCHunter]

https://hubpages.com/education/Separating-Zinc-and-Copper-from-a-Penny

Interesting. Thanks. Using a torch looks like the way to go if you want to recover the zinc.

 

[beastep]

Thats why I just always did my own powdercoating on bike and atv parts. Much easier.