As part of the Treasure Island theme of “One Book, One Dollar” pupils in Form II recently made their own “golden” doubloons using their pirate cunning, and a little help from the Chemistry Department.  By following the instructions given in their Young Pirates’ Guide, ordinary copper coins were first plated with zinc, and then heated gently to make an alloy coating of brass on the coins, giving them a golden hue!  The photographs show two classes carrying out the process.  To prove that gold had not been made, the brass coating was then removed using concentrated nitric acid, producing clouds of brown acidic gas in the fume cupboard, and returning the coins to their original state.  Please do not try this at home!  (This activity was adapted from a resource produced by the Royal Society of Chemistry).

The Instructions in Young Pirates' Guide
Copper coins are cleaned with steel wool	The clean coins are heated with the zincate solution
The coins are turned to coat both sides with zinc	Zinc coated coins have been made
'Zinc' coins are gently heated to make them 'gold'	We're rich!!!
We're really rich!!!