It's not often that one stumbles across one million pennies in their attic. But this is just what happened to a California family. Those folks found sacks of pre-1982 pennies weighing 2.7 tons. Could there be a better time to look at the fascinating and colorful properties of copper? I think not.
oxidation state
Plenty of art critics can babble on about this or that. But currently, at the Whitney Museum in New York, a Warhol show is getting rave, babbling reviews. Partly because the flamboyant artist urinated on some of his work. His pee – and that of others, ewww – caused copper paint to turn color. Others can babble about art, but only we at ACSH dare to explain the pop-art power of pee. Call it what you will, anything that is except yellow journalism.