Why are pennies bigger than dimes?

That question is answered in the site below. Essentially the value of the coin was linked to the size as well as the material it was made of. If the penny were made of silver, then its proportionate size would have been way too small. So they made it out of its equivalent value in copper/nickel.

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"Back in 1793, when the first U.S. coins were produced, the US Mint linked the sizes of coins to a particular metal standard—the silver dollar. Except for the copper penny, all coins were produced in proportionate metallic content to the dollar, and their sizes were regulated accordingly. The fifty-cent coin contained one-half as much silver as the dollar, the quarter had one-fourth as much, and the dime or ten-cent coin had one-tenth as much. The five-cent coin, or half-dime as it was called then, had only one-twentieth the silver. But it was so small that it was difficult for people to handle. So in 1866, United States Mint officials decided to make it larger by changing its content from silver and copper to a combination of copper and nickel—and the modern nickel was born."

Oh my gosh, YES! I hate that they just randomly decided that the dime, which is worth more than the nickel and penny, would be smaller. Do you know how confusing it is to teach K-1 students learning the values and how to count coins?! Ahh! I do! I'm a teacher.

Also, most other countries in the world have a logical order for sizing and quantifying their coins. They also have bills that are different colored so that there's no way you might actually give away the wrong valued bill. We're just now getting to that.

silver is worth more than copper but we get cheated on that now because they fill the innerds of dimes with copper. Maybe dimes should be worth 12 cents??

They go in order of the President's "endowments." Washington had a very large endowment, while FDR's was somewhat smaller.

Do you see now, my curious young one? That is also why the Washington monument is the largest phallic symbol in DC. George had it workin' boyyeeeee!

This displeases me. Everyone knows the penny is better than FDR, I mean the dime.

Why does the greatest President in American history (Abe Lincoln) have to be on it?

We should put William McKinley or one of those useless ones, like Obama

Because they made it that way and plus good things come in small packets. a dime is better than a penny right??

It takes more copper to equal the amount needed to equal the value of one cent than it does of silver to equal the value of ten cents and the same with nickle to equal the value of five cents.

It's the way our Founding Fathers wanted it. They did this ti Hack Off The Queen of England

Why is a penny dark and worth the least amount of money?