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How to Clean Nickel Coins With Electrolysis

As a coin gets passed through thousands of hands over its lifetime, it is easy for it to quickly lose its shine. While there are several ways to restore a coin's original beauty, cleaning a coin by electrolysis takes only a few minutes and will generally keep your hands and workspace clean as well.

Electrolysis is a chemical reaction driven by an electrical current. In chemistry, electrolysis is used to break water into hydrogen and oxygen. In the case of cleaning coins, the electrolysis process breaks off corrosion and non-metallic debris from the outside of the coin.

Things You'll Need

9, 12 or 18 volt AC adapter
2 small alligator clips, non bronze
Stainless steel spoon
Glass cup
Pinch of salt
1 cup water
Several drops of lemon juice concentrate

Instructions

- 1
  Cut off the small end of the adapter (opposite the end which plugs into the wall) and separate the wire in two. After stripping the ends, attach alligator clips to each end.
- 2
  Fill the glass cup with cold water. Add a teaspoon of salt and stir well. Add a few drops of lemon juice concentrate (if available) to help improve conductivity.
- 3
  Place the spoon in water and clip the coin to the negative alligator clip. Attach the other alligator clip to the spoon.
- 4
  Plug the adapter into the wall socket and completely submerge the coin without touching the spoon. If small bubbles begin to rise from the spoon, the electrolysis process is being applied to the spoon instead of the coin. In this case, unplug the adapter and switch the alligator clips with the spoon and coin before plugging the adapter back in.
- 5
  Bubbles should begin to come from the coin and soon a cloud will begin to form around the coin. The dark cloud contains the debris and nonmetallic materials that were previously on the coin.
- 6
  Leave the coin in the glass for about five minutes, as the top half of the water will continue to darken.
- 7
  Pull the coin out of the water and unplug the adapter. Stop the chemical reaction by applying baking soda to the coin and scrub with a toothbrush.
- 8
  Rinse the coin.

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