Stand back! I am about to do science!

In middle school they teach you about the scientific method.  In the drive to make learning authentic and pertinent they make you apply it to all sorts of non-sciency things, like the best locker location or whether candy bars improve student achievement on tests.  Perhaps I would have paid more attention had I known that the fruits of the scientific method would someday pay my bills.  Probably not, but I would definitely have paid more attention had I known how down right practical and useful it could be.  Thus...

A dual-arm trial comparing of Kleen King Copper Cleaner and Ketchup in the efficacious removal of CuO/CuS tarnish from T-Fal Copper Bottom, Stainless Steel Cookware

Observation: The copper bottoms of my pots and pans is tarnished and dirty.

Hypothesis: I hypothesize that ketchup will remove the tarnish from my pots and pans better than Kleen King Copper Cleaner (also known as: the stuff found underneath my kitchen sink.)

Predictions: Given the natural acidity in ketchup (and since I've been told that this works), I predict that it will remove the tarnish but be difficult to keep on the vertical surfaces of the pot, thus resulting in an inconsistent shine. 

The Experiment:

A poorly designed, two arm trial with, varying degree's of tarnish and no control arm. 

Then we applied the tarnish removers:

Applied some elbow grease to Exhibit A and let the ketchup rest on Exhibit B for...well...as long as it took to apply the elbow grease. :)

Scrub, scrub, scrub.  Rinse, rinse, rinse.  And voila!

Conclusions:

1. The ketchup worked!  Even factoring in the darker tarnish on the copper-polish one, I didn't have to scrub, scrub, scrub on the pot on the right.  The shiney-fication just happened on its own,which I do find to be kinda cool.  

2. Should you find yourself with any residual ketchup on your hands during the rinsing process, don't lick it off.  The tarnish dissolution process seriously messes with the flavor.  It took at least half a beer to rinse the taste to stupidity from my mouth.