Isotopic Pennies

A digital copy of the lab worksheet is at the bottom of this web page.

Goal of the lab: Determine how many of the 25 pennies inside the film canister are old pennies (pre 1982) and how many are new (post 82), without opening the container.

Hints:

The mass of the empty container is written on the top of the photo canister.

Be sure to include the container number as part of your data.

Data and Observations

Here are pictures of the data necessary to complete the calculations for the experiment

Mass of 25 Pre 1982 Pennies (old)

Mass of 25 Post 1982 pennies (new)

Mass of the container with the pennies in it.

Close up of the container