Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

For my science fair project I decided to do what kind of liquid cleans a Tarnished penny the best. I gathered 5 liquids and let equally tarnished pennies sit in them overnight. I have already finished the expirement but I am not sure how I will put the changes I've noticed into graphs without eyeballing the before and after photos of my pennies. Can someone please give me some ideas or advice, thanks!

Hi JessicaSimpson,

You could come up with a "tarnish scale" and rank the pennies based on their appearance (i.e. from 1-10, 10 is "very tarnished" and 1 is "completely clean.") This scale will, however, be somewhat subjective. You could also use photo color analysis software (look some up on the internet - I found one called "Image J" that might work, and it's free) to analyze the percentages of tarnish color on the surface of the penny and graph the percentages. I hope this helps!

Sincerely,
Elena