Blog 2: Presentation on Penny Weights

What would a 1793 penny weigh?

What would a 1908 penny weigh?

What would a penny weigh picked up from the sidewalk?

 

When required to create a presentation on the above questions these are the results of my group:

Out group concluded that a 1793 penny weighs 13.48 grams, a 1908 penny weighs 3.11 grams, and a penny picked up from the sidewalk (a penny made today) would weigh 2.5 grams.  We gave a brief history about the penny, listed the compositions of each penny at each time period above, and concluded with a video about pennies being stamped in a U.S. mint.

 

Reflection:

I feel that our group's presentation could have been better than it was.  We could have done an experiment to show the probability of picking up a penny and having it be a certain weight.  We did not answer the question about how much a penny would weigh if picked up off of the sidewalk.  We spent too much time on history when we should have focused on experimentation and penny weight.  The other presentations were also good, but most did not focus on the weight of a penny being picked up on the sidewalk.  Only a small amount of groups answered this question and did experimentation on it.  They could have been better if we saw more statistics about penny weight and probability of picking up certain pennies.