Pennies have a Purpose!!

[jetra2]

Hi all,

I recently was in a bind for noseweight for my Estes 2.6" V-2. I didn't have any BB's or any clay handy, but then I remembered! I saw at my work (grocery store) that when they weighed 50-cent rolls of pennies, they weighed .49 pounds, almost consitently. So, I grabbed a few pennies out of my stash, and for about 20 cents, I had almost instant noseweight! A little expanding foam, and WHA-LA!!

So, if you're ever in a bind for noseweight, grab some pennies and drop 'em in there!

Jason

 

[shockwaveriderz]

I can hear it now: Pennies from heaven......
sorry I could not resist.......

 

[KermieD]

Originally posted by shockwaveriderz
I can hear it now: Pennies from heaven......
sorry I could not resist.......

Milo!!! Grab the ban-hammer and come over here a minute!!!

 

[Mike]

Little off topic but...how many pennies are in a cent? And whats a dime?

 

[tbzep]

A cent is 1/100 of a US dollar.

A penny is the actual US coin worth one cent. Penny and cent are often used interchangably in our screwed up version of the English language.

A dime is a coin equivalent to 10 cents, or 1/10 of a US dollar.

A quarter is a coin worth 25 cents or 1/4 of a US dollar.

 

[tbzep]

BTW, I built models when I was a kid that called for the use of pennies in the instructions.

I can't remember if any of the models were rockets, but I know for sure I've built gliders that called for pennies as noseweight.

 

[eugenefl]

I suppose if you're ever stuck someplace where you're thirsty and don't have any change for the soda machine you could pry apart the cone and remove the pennies. ...or how about a toll booth? Just hand over the nosecone and say "Look Sir, either I can sit here and peel away my 'cone to give you .50 for the toll or you can take this here nosecone as payment." Oh, the many useful things us rocketeers can come up with.

Jason, think of the economics here - you shoulda invested the .50 for more BB's! Maybe you coulda snagged someone's driveway gravel? :kill:

 

[brianc]

Originally posted by tbzep
BTW, I built models when I was a kid that called for the use of pennies in the instructions.

I can't remember if any of the models were rockets, but I know for sure I've built gliders that called for pennies as noseweight.

Yup. NAR has the 'Paper Tiger' plan available...

https://nar.org/images/papertig.gif

 

[BobH48]

If your looking for those gliders that used pennies for nose weight, take a look at:

https://www.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/airplanes/index.html

There are six WWII fighters. But with inflation they require a dime for nose weight.

 

[astronboy]

I collect coins as well as build rockets... (Brit coins actually...)

One thing to know is that US pennies are now made from ZINC, coated with a wash of copper. Pennies from the 1970s and earlier are copper and weigh a LOT more, per penny.

I have used nickels (5 cent piece made of nickel)

and

quarters (25 cents, made from copper/silver cladding)

for noseweights as in the old estes plans: I drilled a hole in the center and stuck the srew eye through them before attaching to the balse NC.

Fred

 

[rstaff3]

I must be old. I still pick pennies up and put them in the piggie bank (actually a frog, in this case). if I don't use lead shot I grab some stones to use as nose weight.

 

[Stymye]

The Quest HL-20 uses pennies for aft weight

 

[eugenefl]

Originally posted by rstaff3
I must be old. I still pick pennies up and put them in the piggie bank (actually a frog, in this case). if I don't use lead shot I grab some stones to use as nose weight.

I have a 64oz Gatorade bottle that I put my pennies in. I have one bottle 2/3rds full. I wonder how much in pennies I have in there. I'd be too cheap to use pennies for noseweight. I'd probably go scrounging around the pool area for stones. That's just me.

 

[tbzep]

Originally posted by rstaff3
I must be old. I still pick pennies up and put them in the piggie bank (actually a frog, in this case). if I don't use lead shot I grab some stones to use as nose weight.

I do too. And for those who think it's bad luck to pick up a coin that isn't turned right...I think it's bad luck to pass up free money!

 

[tbzep]

Originally posted by stymye
The Quest HL-20 uses pennies for aft weight

I knew I did a fairly recent rocket kit with pennies. I just couldn't remember what it was. I guess I should have looked at my rockets.

 

[Rocketjunkie]

Originally posted by tbzep
BTW, I built models when I was a kid that called for the use of pennies in the instructions.

Pre 1983 pennies were solid copper and weighed 3.1 grams. Newer pennies are copper plated zinc and weigh 2.5 grams. The age of your pennies *does* make a difference!

 

[VenusProbe]

Odd that I should see this thread now, I was looking up the weight of pennies earlier today to figure out an inexpensive way to get the mass of various rocket parts. Below are the official weights of contemporary U.S. coins:

Cent - 2.5 grams
Nickel - 5 grams
Dime - 2.27 grams
Quarter - 5.67 grams
Half Dollar - 11.34 grams
Dollar (SBA) - 8.1 grams

with a large enough collect of new coins you should be able to get pretty darn close on the weight of most anything.

 

[Bowhunter]

Lots and Lots of pennies = Motors

 

[ravenx99]

Originally posted by Bowhunter
Lots and Lots of pennies = Motors

It's dimes, apparently, not pennies.

Check out this Maxi-Alpha III on eBay that comes with rolls of dimes instead of motors:

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2567&item=5909247224&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

"There is no rocket engines but here is a lot of rolls of dimes with this. The rolls of dimes are a carded lot of 3 b6-4, and two boxes of a8-0 but one box only has two in it and the other has three."