Science: What are coins made of ?
What are coins made of ?
Lesson plan
Introduction
Show the children a variety of coins, including
‘copper’ coins (e.g. 1p), ‘silver’ coins (e.g. 10p),
‘gold’ coins (e.g. £1) and those made of two metals
(e.g. £2). Also show them some plastic coins (play
money). Ask them what they think the coins are
made of and discuss whether ‘coppers’ are
actually made of copper and so on.
Main section
Discuss with the children how they think
materials are chosen for coins, beginning with
drawing out from them the requirements of
circulation coins such as:
– They should be strong but not brittle
– They should not corrode
– They should not carry germs
– They should be able to be recycled
– They should be convenient to carry
Ask them what sort of materials would meet
these requirements, suggesting some
alternatives and discussing why the
alternatives are not suitable. For example, ask
them why plastic and cardboard are not
suitable for coins, but tell them that in history
coins have been made from a variety of
different materials, such as leather, clay, carbon
and porcelain.
Tell the children that some metals have the
properties needed for coins but that usually
they do not have all the desired properties.
Explain that, to get around this problem, mints
frequently use alloys of metals, and provide
them with some of the details of the alloys used
by the Royal Mint on the accompanying
resource sheet.
Put the children into groups and give each
group a copy of the resource sheet. Ask the
groups to design a poster about one or more
coins used in the UK to show:
– The metals used to make the coin
– At least one reason why each metal was used
– The proportion of each metal (perhaps on a
pie chart, or using a pictorial representation)
Finishing off
Discuss the posters the children have
produced. Ask the children to explain the
decisions they made and what other
information they might have included.
What are coins made of ?
Notes for teachers
This lesson addresses the National Curriculum
objectives:
Pupils should be taught:
– To compare everyday materials and objects
on the basis of their material properties,
including hardness, strength, flexibility and
magnetic behaviour, and to relate these
properties to everyday uses of the materials.
By looking at the materials used in coin making,
children develop an appreciation of the properties of
metals.
– To describe changes that occur when
materials are mixed.
The coins in circulation are all alloys, and by
exploring the composition of the alloys, the
children gain awareness of the changes that result
from mixing different metals together.
Notes
The main part of this lesson is about
researching coins and presenting the
information. Although most of the facts the
children need are on the resource sheet, you
may want to provide them with more resources,
such as books, CD-ROMs or web pages such as
Wikipedia.
Although this lesson is about coins in
circulation in the United Kingdom you may
like to extend it to cover coins in other
countries or collectors items. For example:
– The American coin called the ‘Nickel’ is
actually only 25% nickel, the rest is copper
– Maundy money is a coin made of sterling
silver. It is handed out by the Queen to
elderly men and women on Maundy
Thursday each year
– Many collectors’ coins are made of gold,
such as the Britannia, sovereign and Bullion
coins made by the Royal Mint
You could also link this lesson to questions of
geography, such as finding out where copper
comes from and whether there is going to be a
shortage of copper in years to come.
In preparation for this lesson you will need to
make sure that you have materials ready for
making posters: card, glue, felt pens and so on.
If you want the children to represent the
relative proportions of the different metals in
the alloys as a pie chart, you may like to make a
computer available. The Resource Sheet 2
accompanying these resources provides all the
pie charts in case you want to be able to make
them available to the children or to use them
in some other way.
What are coins made of ?
Resource sheet 1
Most of the coins in circulation are made of
alloys of copper. (An alloy is a homogenous
mixture of two or more metals. This means that
any amount of the mixture has the same
properties.)
Copper is used because it resists corrosion
from the air, moisture and seawater. It is
alloyed with other metals that make it harder.
Another reason copper is used is that it is
naturally anti-bacterial. Because coins are
handled so much, passing coins from one
person to another may spread bacteria, but
copper cleans itself because it poisons the
bacteria. This antimicrobial effect is also seen
in a number of other metals, such as silver,
iron, lead and zinc.
In fact the copper coins used in the United
Kingdom (1p and 2p) used to be made of a
copper alloy, but are now made of steel and
plated with copper. The steel makes them very
strong.
In the ‘silver’ coins, copper is alloyed with
nickel, which is a silvery white metal that takes
on a high polish. This accounts for the silvery
colour of the 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p coins.
Nickel, like copper, does not oxidise and is
permanent in air, and is therefore suitable for
use in coins.
The ‘gold’ coins (£1 and the outer part of the
£2) are also made of an alloy of copper and
nickel, but there is much less nickel than in
the silver coins. A third metal is added to the
alloy: zinc.

The amounts of metals used in the alloys for coins in the UK are summarised below. These
figures are taken from the Royal Mint website.

Before 1992 1p and 2p Bronze Copper 97% Zinc 2.5% Tin 0.5%

After 1992 1p and 2p Bronze Copper-plated steel

5p, 10p Cupro-nickel 75% Copper 25% Nickel

20p Cupro-nickel 84% Copper 16% Nickel

50p Cupro-nickel 75% Copper 25% Nickel

£1 Nickel-brass 70% Copper 5.5% Nickel 24.5% Zinc

£2 (outer) Nickel-brass 76% Copper 4% Nickel 20% Zinc

£2 (inner) Cupro-nickel 75% Copper 25% Nickel

£5 Cupro-nickel 75% Copper 25% Nickel

What are coins made of ?
Resource sheet 2