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Materials

Periodic Graphics

Periodic graphics: the compositions of U.S. coins

Chemical educator and Compound Interest blogger Andy Brunning shares some fun facts about the metals in pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters

by Andy Brunning
July 11, 2016 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 94, Issue 28

This is an infographic describing the metals used to make U.S. currency and how they’ve changed over the years.

CORRECTION: On Aug. 15, 2016, this graphic was updated to correct the year when the penny acquired its current composition. It was 1982, not 1984. Also, the graphic was updated to reflect that coins are struck from planchets (not cast from molten metal) and some (not all) dollar coins produced between 1849 and 1889 contained 90% gold.

To download a pdf of this article, visit http://cenm.ag/coins.


To see more of Brunning’s work, go to http://compoundchem.com. To see all of C&EN’s Periodic Graphics, visit http://cenm.ag/periodicgraphics.


This article has been translated into Spanish by Divulgame.org and can be found here.

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