1. Decrease in intensity of a signal, beam, or wave as a result of absorption of energy and of scattering out of the path of a detector, but not including the reduction due to geometric spreading, i.e., the inverse square of distance effect.
For the purists, there are about 145 copper cents / pennies in a pound. On the other hand, post 1982 zinc cents which have a copper plating over a much softer, much lighter zinc planchet. So there are about 180 zinc cents / pennies per pound. Those numbers of pennies per pound are of course for new, uncirculated, zinc or copper cents. When minted, new copper cents weigh about 3.11 grams each and new zinc cents about 2.5 grams each and that is our basis for the number of pennies in a pound. However, once they are put in circulation, they start to ware thinner and thinner.
A penny is not what you think. Indeed, from 1783 to 1837, a cent was pure copper. But newer pennies are made mostly of zinc. Here's the history, according to the U.S. Mint: 1  From 1837 to 1857, the cent was made of bronze (95 percent copper, and five percent tin and zinc). 2  From 1857, the cent was 88 percent copper and 12 percent nickel, giving the coin a whitish appearance.