Ever heard of the penny trick?

Jaswir · Oct 15, 2007

I was getting some bad corrosion on my battery terminals.... So a co-worker told me about the penny trick... He said to place a penny somewhere on the battery...

So i placed it a lil bit under one of the caps where u fill it with water... so it does not slide away... Checked it out about week later... what do you know? All the **** builds up on the penny and not ur terminals! Pretty cool! Try it out guys!

nvr2low · Oct 15, 2007

the copper attracts all the electrons making it corode instead of the metal. if you dont want your car to rust in the winter in the north contry you can take a pice of copper and mount it on the car isolated from the frame and then connect it to the battery. the copper will rust and the car wont, my high school chemistry teacher told me about that trick.

Daggar · Oct 15, 2007

Hmmmm... I wonder if something like that will keep my hatch from rusting.

Jaswir · Oct 15, 2007

the copper attracts all the electrons making it corode instead of the metal. if you dont want your car to rust in the winter in the north contry you can take a pice of copper and mount it on the car isolated from the frame and then connect it to the battery. the copper will rust and the car wont, my high school chemistry teacher told me about that trick.

thats pretty cool

302RollinHard · Oct 15, 2007

Ye olde sacrificial annode trick. Marvelous. They even have these for your cooling system........

GSP393 · Oct 15, 2007

Interesting bit of knowladge. Thanks for sharing.

87foxstang · Oct 15, 2007

Daggar said:
Hmmmm... I wonder if something like that will keep my hatch from rusting.

ninety15.0 · Oct 15, 2007

Nice. A little electromotive force series at work for you this time...instead of against you! sweet

Darkwriter77 · Oct 15, 2007

Wait ... aren't modern-day pennies mostly made of ZINC, with a copper coating or layer...?

TRWXXA · Oct 15, 2007

Darkwriter77 said:
Wait ... aren't modern-day pennies mostly made of ZINC, with a copper coating or layer...?

Zinc works too.

Darkwriter77 · Oct 15, 2007

Ah. Cool. Gotta try this sometime, myself...

Jaswir · Oct 15, 2007

As long as there is some copper doesnt matter... You can use anything with copper in it

1993SSP · Oct 15, 2007

I know the penny is cheaper, but why not pick up some of those terminal felts from the auto parts store, they are 98 cents at advance, I hate to see money destroyed

Darkwriter77 · Oct 15, 2007

The gov't mints money faster than it can be destroyed, so who cares 'bout pennies? Federal over-production of cash is probably half the reason why inflation has been increasing at the pace that it has the past couple of decades...

cervinistang · Oct 15, 2007

Saving our cars and the economy? Can i get a hoot-rah?

U2SLO450 · Oct 16, 2007

Darkwriter77 said:
Wait ... aren't modern-day pennies mostly made of ZINC, with a copper coating or layer...?

Yeah, people started melting down old pennies just for the copper because it was worth more

Shakerhood · Oct 16, 2007

nvr2low said:
the copper attracts all the electrons making it corode instead of the metal. if you dont want your car to rust in the winter in the north contry you can take a pice of copper and mount it on the car isolated from the frame and then connect it to the battery. the copper will rust and the car wont, my high school chemistry teacher told me about that trick.

What do you mean by "Connect" it to the Battery?

Shakerhood · Oct 16, 2007

Darkwriter77 said:
Wait ... aren't modern-day pennies mostly made of ZINC, with a copper coating or layer...?

Zinc is what they use to be Sacrificed in an Aluminum Radiator.

bloopbloob · Oct 17, 2007

if you have an aluminum rad thats grounded, you have a very expensive sacrificial anode. just something to think about. iron<copper<zinc<aluminum<magnesium ( but i think Mg might be overkill and cause some other unwanted effects. i'd have to look into it a bit more). all 4 will donate electrons (which is what causes the rust) before your iron chassis does. i would think that you need some type of electrolyte for current to pass through the parts(ie grease, salt water, etc.) to make this effective throughout the vehicle... i don't think it would work very well unless in close proximity to the cathode, especially with all the bushings etc. that cause isolation
i think this trick is mostly due to the battery donating electrons, not the chassis.

bloopbloob · Oct 17, 2007

nvr2low said:
the copper attracts all the electrons making it corode instead of the metal. if you dont want your car to rust in the winter in the north contry you can take a pice of copper and mount it on the car isolated from the frame and then connect it to the battery. the copper will rust and the car wont, my high school chemistry teacher told me about that trick.

sorry but thats not the case. first, the copper is an electron donor. second, all thats happening is that if you get moist air or water to allow electron flow (electrolyte), the copper steals the electrons from your battery in order to react with oxygen in the air, creating copper(II)oxide. i'm sure this 'trick' showed the copper being oxidized, but that doesn't mean your car isn't being oxidized at the same time. it may work locally, such as for terminals, but don't expect much (if any) result on the rest of the car except maybe a shorter battery life

Ever heard of the penny trick?

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