Copper content in a 2p coin

Gordon Watson made this Freedom of Information request to Royal Mint

The request was successful.

From: Gordon Watson

7 March 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am the head of Chemistry in a Scottish Secondary school. One of
my senior pupils is investigating methods of determining copper and
iron in 2p coins.

We would be extremely grateful if you could supply us with a value
for the mass of copper/ % copper in a copper plated steel 2p coin.

Yours faithfully,

Gordon Watson
PT Chemistry
Kelso High School

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From: Joseph Payne

17 March 2009

Dear Mr Watson

I am writing in reply to your Freedom of Information request of 7 March.

Copper-plated steel 2p coins have a composition of 93% (??3%) mild steel and 7% (??3%) copper.

Yours sincerely

Joseph Payne
Assistant Curator
The Royal Mint

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From: Gordon Watson

17 March 2009

Dear Joseph Payne,

Many many thanks. Much appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Gordon Watson

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John Cross left an annotation ( 7 February 2010)

This is a great example of a specific request for information and a useful response from a public body.

I have incorporated content from the response into this wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_pence_(British_decimal_coin)

#wikipedia

I have also blogged about this request here:

http://confirm-or-deny.blogspot.com/2010...

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sumscgjs left an annotation (23 May 2010)

You can just look it up here on the Royal Mint web site:

Home > About Us > Today's Coinage > Coin Design and Specifications> 2p Coin

United Kingdom 2p Coin
http://www.royalmint.com/Corporate/facts...

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Gordon Watson left an annotation (24 May 2010)

Thanks to previous poster for taking the time to add link. However, while it gives a detailed analysis of the pre1992 bronze alloy used, it doesn't give the copper/iron composition which was why I needed to make a FOI request.

Worth a second look, however, as I hadn't noticed that both alloys were used in 1998 so any future Investigation would need to be careful not to include 1998 coins. Thanks again.

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