Would a penny sink or float in water?
When an object of volume V is submerged in a liquid, the object
experiences an upward force equal to the weight of the fluid it has
displaced (the weight of a volume V of fluid). Oil is less dense
than water (the oil floating on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico
after the Deep Horizon catastrophe is an example of this), so a
given volume of oil weighs less than the same volume of water.
This means that a penny of volume V submerged in oil feels the
weight of gravity pushing it down, and the weight of a volume V of
oil pushing it up. The upward weight pushing the penny up is less
in oil than in water, so the penny will sink faster in water,
theoretically.