How much is a gallon of pennies worth $$$ ?

[louie]

a single penny weighs 0.1 oz

I just weighed 2 rolls of 50 on my digital scale and got 9.2 oz (264g), with the weight of 2 paper rolls less than .1 oz. (my scale only reads to tenths of oz)

So I guess 9.2 oz per dollar, or $1.74 per pound!

 

[bwaites]

Trashman, you are, of course, correct! IF...and only IF, you are are trying to figure how many pennies to the POUND.

The question is..."How much is a gallon of pennies worth?" That is a volume measurement, and to correctly estimate that, you must know several DIFFERENT things.

1) Cubic measurement in cc's, or mm cubed, or cubic inches or cubic feet of a gallon.
2) The specific alloy.
3) The weight, by volume, of that alloy.

Bill

 

[Lightmeup]

Be careful when moving that jug around. It was designed to hold about 8 lb, not 80. It could easily break apart, and glass shards would be all over the place. I've seen it happen.

 

[liqht]

the alloy for pennies was changed in 1982 from 95% copper to 98% zinc with copper plating, so the weight will be different for older pennies and newer pennies. we all know pennies stay in circulation for a LONG time (you can still ocassionally get a wheat penny in change).

so if you're going by the weight method, you would have to consider the proportion of pre-1982 and post-1982 pennies you might have.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cent_(U.S._coin)

 

[Trashman]

Trashman, you are, of course, correct! IF...and only IF, you are are trying to figure how many pennies to the POUND.

The question is..."How much is a gallon of pennies worth?" That is a volume measurement, and to correctly estimate that, you must know several DIFFERENT things.

1) Cubic measurement in cc's, or mm cubed, or cubic inches or cubic feet of a gallon.
2) The specific alloy.
3) The weight, by volume, of that alloy.

Bill

I thought you were talking about using the weight of the penny to estimate the amount of money in a full gallon jar (err, wait, that is what you're talking about!). I thought you were just over thinking it! (err, wait, I still think that!) The thing is, as others have pointed out, the way in which the pennies are arranged, or in this case, just happen to fall, in the jar is going to be a factor in how many pennies will fit in the gallon. It sounds, to me, that you're planning on melting the pennies down and then filling the gallon jar with the molten pennies, all the while, taking note of how many pennies worth of molten metal you've poured. As I type this, I'm even more convinced that you're over thinking the problem. The main thing to agree on, though, is that the pennies will never fall into the jar in exactly the same pattern, and sometimes, more pennies will with than at other times, just because of the randomness of their falling. A good scale will get you the right number every time, though there may slight differences due to the amount of dirt on each penny.


EDIT: After paying more attention to Light's post, above mine, I'm now wondering...what is the difference in weight between the new and old pennies? What do they each weigh?

 

[Mike Painter]

I thought you were talking about using the weight of the penny to estimate the amount of money in a full gallon jar (err, wait, that is what you're talking about!). I thought you were just over thinking it! (err, wait, I still think that!) The thing is, as others have pointed out, the way in which the pennies are arranged, or in this case, just happen to fall, in the jar is going to be a factor in how many pennies will fit in the gallon. It sounds, to me, that you're planning on melting the pennies down and then filling the gallon jar with the molten pennies, all the while, taking note of how many pennies worth of molten metal you've poured. As I type this, I'm even more convinced that you're over thinking the problem. The main thing to agree on, though, is that the pennies will never fall into the jar in exactly the same pattern, and sometimes, more pennies will with than at other times, just because of the randomness of their falling. A good scale will get you the right number every time, though there may slight differences due to the amount of dirt on each penny.

Agreed. To get an accurate and fairly precise answer to teh gallon question you would need a tube with and ID = the the diameter of a penny and a height that would hold a pint, quart, gallon of liquid.
Then put the pennies in and count.
This could be calculated.
That half of the class will be given the needed information in inches, and pints. This half will use metric.
Winner gets the pennies.

 

[Morelite]

just for fun I weighed 10 pennies from the 1960's and got 1.105oz and I weighed 10 more pennies from the 2000's and got .885oz, so yes there is a 20% difference in pennies made before and after 1982.

Volume wise the count will be the same, but weighing to get a count will be off by as much as 20%.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I once saved a plastic 2 Liter bottle of pennies, it holds about $30.00 worth not quite full and I took it to my bank and cut it open with a utility knife and poured them out in their bins. They didn't have anyone to count it so I got a receipt a few days later in the mail for the amount (deposit slip).

 

[Trashman]

Ain't that a *itch (scratch, scratch). Pre-'82 pennies weigh 3.1g and post weigh 2.5g. So, while you're separating your jar of pennies into two piles, you might as well just count them at the same time!

We could always get a decent estimate, though! My guess is that most of the pennies are post '82.

 

[Morelite]

Pre 1982 pennies are worth more in scrap copper value than they are as a penny. 100 pennies are worth one dollar in mometary value but they are worth $1.51 as copper (at the current scrap copper value of $2.20/lb)

 

[Monocrom]

Gallon of pennies?

I'd say, no more than $33.00

 

[cave dave]

Well according to the link I posted earlier, 1 cu ft of pennies in nice orderly stack is worth $491.52 (and weights 307 lbs)
1 ft3 = 7.481 Gal

so one gallon would give $65.70 and 41 lbs

I think it would end up being less since its not in a nice stack.

 

[bwaites]

There we go!

 

[KC2IXE]

65.70 is WAY High - at least for the gallon wine bottle I had - like I said, filled to the very top, it was $54 - not theory there - took a LOT of years to fill it with just pennies, but I did it - Call it "the experimental method" - I wrote down how much was in there on the label - still have it

 

[liqht]

i think you could use the displacement method to figure it out:

1) figure the volume occupied by a single penny (won't be 100% accurate, since pennies are not all identical; see Nitroz's post for dimensions)

2) with your pennies still in the jar, fill the jar to the top with water

3) pour the water into your precise lab equipment to measure the volume of water (won't be 100% accurate because some water will probably remain stuck to the pennies)

4) empty the pennies from the jar and fill it with water to the very top

5) pour the water into your precise lab equipment again to measure the volume

6) substract the "with pennies" volume of water from the "without pennies" volume and you will have the total volume of the pennies

7) divide the total volume of the pennies by the volume of a single penny to figure out how many pennies there are

there's no way this will be absolutely accurate, but you will probably get within $1!

then again, you could just count them by hand, but this would be more fun.

 

[Trashman]

My bank (Wescom Credit Union) provides free use of their counting machine! Counting up all those pennies would be absolutely painless! It's like the "CoinStar" machines in the supermarkets that charge 9% for using them, only its absolutely free for bank customers.

 

[cave dave]

I saw that some coinstar machines are surcharge free if you redeem the coins for Amazon.com certificates.
Not available everywhere:
http://www.coinstar.com/us/WebDocs/A1-0-3-1

PS Amazon.com sells flashlights!

 

[light_emitting_dude]

Had to dig up my old post. Gentleman save those pennies! They may be worth more than you think! Like 5 times more. Read this article.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070122/us_nm/usa_pennies_shortage_dc_1

 

[LuxLuthor]

I saw that some coinstar machines are surcharge free if you redeem the coins for Amazon.com certificates.
Not available everywhere:
http://www.coinstar.com/us/WebDocs/A1-0-3-1

PS Amazon.com sells flashlights!

I just finished using that machine to get an Amazon certificate for $186 of various coins. Works perfectly, and no surcharge.

 

[leadfoot]

Years ago redeamed a glass milk jug full of pennies to the base of neck.....49.12 exactly.

Leadfoot

PS sold the milk jug to the teller for 15.00.