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On A Coin. - Will The Age and Composition of Metals in A Penny Influence The Heads To Tails

1. An experiment was designed to test if the age and composition of metals in pennies influences the ratio of heads or tails when flipped. 2. The hypothesis was that older pennies from 1944 would land on heads more frequently than newer pennies due to their higher mass, resulting from the brass composition. 3. However, the results showed that the 2014 penny made of 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper landed on heads most at 55 times out of 100 flips, despite having the lowest mass. The composition rather than mass seemed to impact the flipping ratio.

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38 views3 pages

On A Coin. - Will The Age and Composition of Metals in A Penny Influence The Heads To Tails

1. An experiment was designed to test if the age and composition of metals in pennies influences the ratio of heads or tails when flipped. 2. The hypothesis was that older pennies from 1944 would land on heads more frequently than newer pennies due to their higher mass, resulting from the brass composition. 3. However, the results showed that the 2014 penny made of 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper landed on heads most at 55 times out of 100 flips, despite having the lowest mass. The composition rather than mass seemed to impact the flipping ratio.

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1.

Design an experiment to test one factor that may influence heads or tails
on a coin.
-Will the age and composition of metals in a penny influence the heads to tails
ratio on a penny?
-If I flip each penny of different compositions 100 times, then the penny from
1944 will land on heads more because it has more mass due to it's composition.
-Independent Variable: Year/Composition of Penny
-Dependent Variable: Heads/Tails Ratio
-Constants: Number of flips, strength of flip, type of coin, way to flip coin
-Control Group: 2014 Penny
-Procedure:
1. Take the oldest penny, in this case the 1943 penny, and flip it 100 times by
flicking it with your thumb, catching it with your hand and flipping it to the top of
your other hand. Each time recording whether it lands on heads, or tails. Tally
number of heads or tails.
2. Repeat with each coin the same way, flipping the coin 100 times, and record
whether it landed on heads or tails.
3. Record data in data table.
3. Collect Data:
Year/Composition of Penny

Heads

Tails

1943 (zinc-coated steel)

43

57

1944 (brass)

48

52

1964 (brass)

47

53

2014 (97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper)

55

45

Year/Composition of Penny

Mass of Penny

1943 (zinc-coated steel)

2.75 grams

1944 (brass)

3.28 grams

1964 (brass)

3.32 grams

2014 (97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper)

2.35 grams

4.Conclusion:
The purpose of this science experiment was to see whether the mass and
composition of a penny had to do with the heads to tails ratio outcome of flipping
the coin.
My hypothesis was that if I flip each coin 100 times, then the coin from
1944 will land on heads the most due to its larger mass. My hypothesis was
rejected because it turns out that the penny from 2014 landed on heads the
most, and it had the smallest mass! The 1944 penny had 3.28 grams of mass,
and the 2014 was the smallest with 2.35 grams of mass. I did find some
correlation from the mass of the penny to the heads to tails outcome of flipping it.
The brass pennies (1944 and 1964) both had very similar results- only 1
number off! The 1943 penny is mostly made out of steel and covered in a small
layer of zinc, but the 2014 penny is mostly made of zinc, and a small layer of
copper! The 1943 had the most number of landings on tails, and the 2014 penny
had the most landings on heads. I think this really shows how the composition of
metals in pennies can affect the way they land.
One uncertainty that I had in this lab was merely human error. Sometimes
when I flicked the penny up into the air with my thumb, I was not able to catch the

penny and it landed on the floor. Another part of this too it that when I did catch it
and went to flip it on top of my hand, it fell off before I could read the outcome.
A question that emerged when performing this experiment and analyzing
data was whether or not the composition of any coin, whether that be a quarter,
dime, nickel, etc., can have this same result or is it just with pennies?

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