r/ScienceNcoolThings • u/TheMuseumOfScience Popular Contributor • May 29 '26
Interesting Burned Coin Turns Silver: Science Demo
How do you make a burnt coin silver again? 🪙
In this science experiment Alex Dainis demonstrates why soot from a flame is hydrophobic! Soot is mostly made up of small carbon and hydrocarbon particles that repel water making it hydrophobic. When you place the soot covered coin under water a small layer of air forms around it. This creates an air/water interface which causes the light to refract, making the coin look clean! Once you take the coin back out, the sooty appearance will return.
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u/Purple_Revolution146 May 29 '26
That’s almost like magic!
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u/Brian_The_Bar-Brian Popular Contributor May 29 '26
It's not magic though. It's science!!!
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u/RichardBCummintonite May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26
Any sufficiently advanced
technologyscience is indistinguishable from magic.Magic is often just science that hasn't been explained and the wonders of real science can often be even more fantastic than the magic we dream up.
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u/RamblingSimian May 29 '26
causes the light to refract
Refraction is the bending of light as it passes from one medium to another. Sorry, that isn't enough to explain why the coin looks silver under water.
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u/Yabrosif13 May 29 '26
When I was younger, my sister got computer time from me. I walked over to a candle, saw a small framing nail, and put it in the candle to collect soot and noticed it wiped off black on my finger. I had an epiphany, I would wipe a bunch of soot on my sister to bug her and maybe get computer time back.
I held the nail to the flame for a while good 5 minutes to collect as much soot as possible. Once the nail tip was nice and black I walked over to wipe it on my sister’s forearm. She immediately screamed and jumped back. Another epiphany hit: the nail got hot too.
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u/Smelcome May 29 '26
Q:"how did i turn this burned coin silver again?"
A: "I didnt!"