perkolator Posted December 10, 2012 Report Share Posted December 10, 2012 wow, that's crazy! we've accidentally and purposefully fired coins in the kiln before, but never had any results like this. gonna have to do some experimenting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judd Posted December 11, 2012 Report Share Posted December 11, 2012 It's the zinc ash as it burned off in the kiln. I know because of past experience/experiment: I fired some galvanized wire mesh with window glass on top and got the exact plumes you did. I only hit 1750 F, but it was still hot enough for the zinc to burn out. I got pictures of it... somewhere. Way cooler than the experiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pres Posted December 13, 2012 Report Share Posted December 13, 2012 For what it's worth, good to note that Zinc's boiling point is only ~1650F, and Zinc vapors are mega bad for you... So only do this if your kiln is well ventilated. I'm wondering if it does have something with the boiling of the zinc, and the small amount of copper. It looks much like the 4th of July smelly snakes that grow out of a small tablet. The oxidation causes gasses to rise, and form a snake like form. I think this may be happening here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yedrow Posted December 20, 2012 Report Share Posted December 20, 2012 I was wondering that the zinc might be fluxing something when I first saw it, but I to quickly assumed the structures coming out of the trays were testing probes or something put in after the firing. Now, my guess would be that you are growing crystals. I would guess that the narrow tops are from the lower energy level of the early vapor condensation and accretion on I guess a crystal imperfection, then when the material became more energetic the diameter expanded to allow the molecules to order themselves accordingly. The structure has to be light enough to be lifted by the surface tension of the source material. But, that is a very uneducated guess. Beyond that, wow, how cool! Joel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrown_In_Stone Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 How odd. Dont think I'll be in any hurry to test it out though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy Moloney Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 I've worked in 3rd level art school, ceramics,for about 30 years and have seen some strange shite; this one, however goes straight up there to the top of the 'Beats me' board. Very strange, interesting, baffling even! Now to try it with some Irish coins (we still have a few to spare) and see what happens.....maybe I'll get a shamrock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amylaloon Posted August 2, 2013 Report Share Posted August 2, 2013 hey, i know im coming into this conversation kind of late, but i hope this is the kind of forum that bumps new posts in old topics up to the top. I just had to go someplace with high speed internet and make an account on here specifically for this, because I too wondered what would happen to pennies in the kiln, and after doing it and getting similar results i thought, i should google that and see who else has done it, and i found this. it really is surprising that more people havent done this. anyway, i wanted to add my pictures of the funk. this is cone 6, and there is a little bit of glaze under each penny, i just noticed how huge this picture is... i did break the longest coolest thingy taking it out. put that on a t-shirt! hahaha. but the three out front sort of turned into little mid-evil maces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Coyle Posted August 2, 2013 Report Share Posted August 2, 2013 WOW! There is some weird chemistry and physics going on here. Are the tubes all hollow? It would be interesting to find out what the chemical composition is of the tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OffCenter Posted August 2, 2013 Report Share Posted August 2, 2013 I've been saving up so I can afford to do that experiment. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted August 2, 2013 Report Share Posted August 2, 2013 way back in the 70's i put a penny on a shelf. it went halfway through the shelf and left a black molten lava looking mess behind. that was at cone 6. i want the shirt. especially if the attribution is included. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenerkittykat Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 I tried this too. It works great. I used lots of different pennies and came up with some very cool sculptural explosion. I only went to cone 06, and tried it three different times. Here is what I got. I would love a chemical explanation of why this happens! AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!! Kat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mregecko Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Umm... It looks like one or two of those tubes went into your element's groove. That's really not good, and could potentially damage the element depending on what the substance is made of. Just be careful with this experimentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PuckGoodfellow Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 i would love to have one of those shirts!! ^.^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler Miller Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 I tried this too. It works great. I used lots of different pennies and came up with some very cool sculptural explosion. I only went to cone 06, and tried it three different times. Here is what I got. I would love a chemical explanation of why this happens! AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!! Kat b.jpga.jpgIMG_20140520_143233_297.jpgIMG_20140520_133500_409.jpgIMG_20140511_140456_040_zpse49074ad.jpg Most pennies in circulation are copper plated zinc. You made zinc oxide. Via the french process to be exact. Zinc vaporizes in the kiln and reacts with the oxidizing evironment, and you get solid zinc oxide that doesn't decompose until much hotter. The unique shapes, I think, come from the way the kiln heats up and vaporizes the zinc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stellaria Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 Cool. You guys made sunscreen. Break out the mortar and pestle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilini Posted October 18, 2014 Report Share Posted October 18, 2014 Why would you want the long, hard copper thing? I was hoping it would melt and create some beautiful effects on the glaze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asanpedro Posted June 20, 2016 Report Share Posted June 20, 2016 Awesome post MariaPolky and happy to see others have tried this experiment. I've been dabbling with this for a few years now but all my experiments have been low fire with glaze and glass and without glaze or glass just the pure pennies. Here's a few shots of the early pieces i made with pennies, i have still to take some shots of the newer pieces and will post later on.... for now, cheerio and kudos!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly Savino Posted February 17, 2020 Report Share Posted February 17, 2020 Hi. Don't do this. That penny was a copper coated zinc wafer and zinc fumes are nasty and can cause flu-like symptoms. Yes, it foams up like one of those snake firework things you can light on a sidewalk. It can reach up as high as the kiln lid. But you don't want to mess with zinc fumes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted February 17, 2020 Report Share Posted February 17, 2020 Just now, Kelly Savino said: Hi. Don't do this. That penny was a copper coated zinc wafer and zinc fumes are nasty and can cause flu-like symptoms. Yes, it foams up like one of those snake firework things you can light on a sidewalk. It can reach up as high as the kiln lid. But you don't want to mess with zinc fumes. Unfortunately there is plenty of zinc in lots of glaze recipes, it's pretty unavoidable, and frankly one of the lesser evils eminating from the kiln. Instead fire in a well ventilated space and stay away from the kiln and vapors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babs Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 On 5/28/2014 at 5:26 AM, greenerkittykat said: I tried this too. It works great. I used lots of different pennies and came up with some very cool sculptural explosion. I only went to cone 06, and tried it three different times. Here is what I got. I would love a chemical explanation of why this happens! AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!! Kat just about got an element there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosieatwriteme.com Posted December 11, 2020 Report Share Posted December 11, 2020 In a High School art paroject I made a big slab pot with pennies included circling the top from oldest to newest. My art teacher put it in the kiln with other students' projects around my pot inthe middle. The kiln exploded, all the other projects were destroyed and my penny pot stood unharmed in the middle with "tucks "of varying ascending size and projection of tusks getting bigger as more magnesium was included in pennies throughout the years. Jon Conway, my art teacher, brought it to an art exhibit and found that out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted December 11, 2020 Report Share Posted December 11, 2020 12 hours ago, rosieatwriteme.com said: The kiln exploded The kiln itself exploded, or the pieces in the kiln exploded? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Relaxed Posted December 15, 2020 Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 Has anyone tried firing a neodymium magnet? My son wanted to put one in with a recent glaze load but I politely declined LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted December 15, 2020 Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 5 minutes ago, 2Relaxed said: Has anyone tried firing a neodymium magnet? My son wanted to put one in with a recent glaze load but I politely declined LOL They are mostly iron and boron with a whiff of neodymium. For sure what would happen is that it would cease to be a magnet, they lose their magnetism when heated over 100c. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterH Posted December 15, 2020 Report Share Posted December 15, 2020 This looks like an example of Pharaoh's Serpent/Snake, in which a combustion process produces a very light ash/foam of some sort (in this case zinc oxide). I first met it in school chemistry lessons in the 1950s, and repeated it at home as an "indoor firework" with a 1950s level of H&S. However ... do try this at home. https://food-hacks.wonderhowto.com/how-to/make-fire-snake-from-sugar-baking-soda-0164401/ https://youtu.be/Hibxz9_ZW18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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