Science Projects for All Ages
Apple Battery Project
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Electricity For Kids And Grownups Alike!
The apple battery project is a second in a series of three fruit battery science projects for kids included on this site. It is an extension of the classic lemon battery project , and is also inexpensive, easy to set up and fairly easy to perform. In fact, with the firmness of the apple, it is easier to insert the terminals without having them touch.
If you look at the supplies photo below, you’ll see it is the same as the lemon battery project, except that we use an apple. For the same reasons noted in that experiment, a fruit battery isn’t powerful enough to light a bulb, so a voltmeter is needed to see what happens. As such, this is also listed this as a 5th grade science project, assuming it is performed by itself. However, if it is combined with the turning on a light bulb experiment, the student will better understand how meter movement relates to a bulb lighting up. If that is done, this can be used in electricity experiments, or elementary science projects from about the first grade on.
Time to Create an Apple Battery … Enjoy!
An apple battery only takes an apple, two nails and a piece of wire to demonstrate the concept. It’s a fun science project that helps show the way things work in a battery by using stuff we see around the house.
As with the lemon battery, we’ll learn a little more about electricity, and probably a few new science terms along the way. This is designed to be performed on its own, but if you elect to do the “Light Bulb” experiment at the same time, it will help connect what’s going on with the voltmeter reading to lighting the light bulb itself.
– 1 apple – About 4 in. wire with insulation removed, #12 or #18 works just fine – 1 steel nail, #6 or 8 works great – 1 zinc plated nail, #6 or 8 is good – Small piece of sand paper – Knife or wire pliers to remove insulation (not shown) – A voltmeter that can read tenths of a volt
Preparation
The only preparation an apple battery project requires is to gather the materials, strip off the wire insulation and clean the ends of the nails and wire with the sand paper. (Gently on the zinc nail).
Since the lemon battery and apple battery share the same project steps, concepts and “how it works” explanation, I will not try to repeat it all here. Please refer to the lemon battery experiment if more details are needed on how to conduct the lab. Only a summary of the steps required follows here.
Project Day
Split into groups as materials allow. If you are performing the light bulb project, demonstrate how the battery makes the flashlight bulb come on. Show them how the meter moves by touching the meter leads on the battery cell. Let them know if we can make the meter move using an apple instead of a battery, then the apple must be acting like a ‘real’ battery as well.
Choose any combination of nail and wire to start the experiment. These are the terminals for our battery. Insert the ends of the terminals into the apple a little over an inch deep. Get them as close as you can without touching each other. (If they touch, the battery will be ‘shorted’ and no voltage difference will show on the meter. If that happens, just pick a new spot on the apple and try again).
Select a DC setting on the voltmeter. Test it against an actual battery if you have one to make sure the meter is working properly. Swap the leads if you see a minus sign in the display, or take a minute to discuss polarity, and what the meter is telling you about which terminal is the cathode (+) and which is the anode (-). Using the meter on an actual battery (that has the + and – signs stamped on it) will provide the answer for them on this one.
Touch one of the meter leads to each of the terminals you inserted in the apple battery (steel and copper is shown here). Note the reading. Also note that the readings may vary from setup to setup, and from trial to trial. There are quite a few things going on that we cannot control, but the important point is that we do get a voltage reading.
Shift to another terminal combination. Zinc and steel are shown to the right. Again, note the voltage. Higher? Lower?
Try the final terminal set. As in the lemon battery project, you should see why zinc and copper make good terminals.
Show that if you hold the meter leads apart, touch them together, or even stick them directly in the apple themselves, nothing happens. The two dissimilar metals we used as battery terminals are needed, and they must be in the apple for the process to work. Otherwise we have no meter deflection and no apple battery.
Tell the group that the same thing causing the meter to move is what lights the bulb in a flashlight.
What just happened?
For the teacher – please see the lemon battery experiment for a complete explanation of what’s happening in the apple battery. The process and the concepts are identical. Additional information is also discussed in the Electricity Science Projects related to Charge section.
For the students – as long as we choose the right metals for our terminals, we can turn the apple into a battery.
Summarize by telling the group – the apple battery voltage is too small to light a bulb, but it is the same process that happens in a battery you buy at the store.
… And as in the other fruit battery projects, if you just need something you can pull off the shelf and do, these can sure help with that:
What else can be made into a battery? Find out here: https://how-things-work-science-projects.com/coin-battery-project/
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How to Make a Fruit Battery
Use fruit to generate electricity for a light bulb
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If you have a piece of fruit, a couple of nails, and some wire, then you can generate enough electricity to turn on a light bulb. Making a fruit battery is fun, safe, and easy.
What You Need
To make the battery you will need:
- Citrus fruit (e.g., lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit)
- Copper nail, screw, or wire (about 2 in. or 5 cm long)
- Zinc nail or screw or galvanized nail (about 2 in. or 5 cm long)
- Small holiday light with 2 in. or 5 cm leads (enough wire to connect it to the nails)
Make a Fruit Battery
Here's how to make the battery:
- Set the fruit on a table and gently roll it around to soften it up. You want the juice to be flowing inside the fruit without breaking its skin. Alternatively, you can squeeze the fruit with your hands.
- Insert the zinc and copper nails into the fruit so that they are about 2 inches (5 centimeters) apart. Don't let them touch each other. Avoid puncturing through the end of the fruit.
- Remove enough insulation from the leads of the light (about 1 in. or 2.5 cm) so that you can wrap one lead around the zinc nail and the other lead around the copper nail. You can use electrical tape or alligator clips to keep the wire from falling off the nails.
- When you connect the second nail, the light will turn on.
How a Lemon Battery Works
Here are the science and chemical reactions regarding a lemon battery (you can try making batteries from other fruits and from vegetables):
- The copper and zinc metals act as positive and negative battery terminals (cathodes and anodes).
- The zinc metal reacts with the acidic lemon juice (mostly from citric acid) to produce zinc ions (Zn 2+ ) and electrons (2 e - ). The zinc ions go into solution in the lemon juice while the electrons remain on the metal.
- The wires of the small light bulb are electrical conductors. When they are used to connect the copper and zinc, the electrons that have built upon the zinc flow into the wire. The flow of electrons is current or electricity. It's what powers small electronics or lights a light bulb.
- Eventually, the electrons make it to the copper. If the electrons didn't go any farther, they'd eventually build up so that there wouldn't be a potential difference between the zinc and the copper. If this happened, the flow of electricity would stop. However, that won't happen because the copper is in contact with the lemon.
- The electrons accumulating on the copper terminal react with hydrogen ions (H + ) floating free in the acidic juice to form hydrogen atoms. The hydrogen atoms bond to each other to form hydrogen gas.
More Science
Here are additional opportunities for research:
- Citrus fruits are acidic, which helps their juices to conduct electricity. What other fruits and vegetables might you try that would work as batteries?
- If you have a multimeter, you can measure the current produced by the battery. Compare the effectiveness of different types of fruit. See what happens as you change the distance between the nails.
- Do acidic fruits always work better? Measure the pH (acidity) of the fruit juice and compare that with the current through the wires or brightness of the light bulb.
- Compare the electricity generated by fruit with that of juices. Liquids you can test include orange juice, lemonade, and pickle brine.
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Fruit Loopy: How to Power a Lamp with Apples
Caleb Charland, a Portland, Maine-based experimenter-photographer, can attest to the advantages and disadvantages of working outside. The bucolic location for this photograph is an apple orchard in Newburgh, Maine. When he finally began his exposure after 11 hours of preparation, he badly wanted a nap, but instead found that his were hands full keeping the local deer at bay. He turned on talk radio, and rattled a container of wire nuts every ten minutes or so to keep the apple-loving animals away from the trees.
Inspired by the science class project where fruits or vegetables are used to power a clock or LED light, Charland wired together 300 apples still on the tree to power a lamp. He put a zinc-coated galvanized nail into each apple and a bare copper wire into the other end to create a current through the electrolytes (charged particles) in the fruit. Electrons flowed from the zinc electrode (where the zinc reacts with the acid in the apple) through the light and into the copper electrode, which transferred electrons back into the fruit. Every ten apples provided about 5 volts, powering an LED for several hours. Charland writes:
"I began installing the work at 9 in the morning. I had no frame of reference for how long the process would actually take. I didn't want to start too early fearing I would get done too soon and potentially wear out the "batteries" before I could start my photographic exposure, thus wasting a lot of time and fruit. I worked all day and took no break, I was still wiring the orchard after sunset. I finished install at 8 pm then began my 4 hour exposure on photographic film. The final image was created using a large format camera that uses color film measuring 4x5 inches."
You can see the video Making of Apple Trees and LEDs showing how this was done, and a gallery of some of Charland's other battery images here. His next project includes a public art installation in the Findlay Market in Cincinnati this summer, and a fall show at the Brancolini Grimaldi gallery in London.
Apples in Series and LEDs , by Caleb Charland
Fruit Battery Still Life (Citrus) 2012 , by Caleb Charland
Coin Battery 2010, by Caleb Charland
Vinegar Battery 2011 , by Caleb Charland
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Fruit Battery
Introduction: (initial observation).
Before invention of electric generators, battery was invented. Battery is a device that converts chemical energy to electrical energy (Electricity). For many years scientists used electricity from batteries and made electromagnet and devices that are based on electromagnet such as telegraph, microphone, speaker, buzzer, telephone and electromotor.
Batteries use the reaction between three or more substance to create a flow of electrons. In this project you will study different chemicals that can be used to make a battery and specially focus on fruits and fruit juice as chemicals in your experiments.
This project guide contains information that you need in order to start your project. If you have any questions or need more support about this project, click on the “ Ask Question ” button on the top of this page to send me a message.
If you are new in doing science project, click on “ How to Start ” in the main page. There you will find helpful links that describe different types of science projects, scientific method, variables, hypothesis, graph, abstract and all other general basics that you need to know.
Project advisor
Information Gathering:
What is electricity and how is it made?
Electricity is moving electrons in a conductor such as a copper wire. But what can force these electrons to move? There are two different ways that electricity can be made.
First method is using a chemical reaction. For example batteries make electricity by a chemical reaction.
Second method is by using magnet. Moving magnets next to a wire, can force electrons move inside the wire.
For making electricity using magnet, check the following links for information:
- How Electricity is made basic
Making electricity using magnet is not a simple experiment, specially if you want to produce enough electricity to light up a bulb. So most likely you are nor going to make an electric generator for your project; but drawings in the above sites may be reproduced in a larger size and be used in your display.
For making electricity using a chemical reaction, visit this link:
- Battery Chemistry
- Electricity and Magnetism
Question/ Purpose:
What do you want to find out? Write a statement that describes what you want to do. Use your observations and questions to write the statement.
The purpose of this project is to see how much electricity we can make using two different metals and an electrolyte such as lemon or other fruits.
Identify Variables:
When you think you know what variables may be involved, think about ways to change one at a time. If you change more than one at a time, you will not know what variable is causing your observation. Sometimes variables are linked and work together to cause something. At first, try to choose variables that you think act independently of each other.
Independent variable (also known as manipulated variable) is the type of electrolyte or fruit that we test (Lemon, potato,…).
Dependent variable (also known as responding variable) is the amount of electricity that we produce.
Controlled variable is the temperature. (Controlled variables are all other variables that may affect the amount of electricity. Temperature may accelerate chemical reactions)
Constants are:
- Type and size of electrodes (We use copper and zinc for all experiments)
- Contact area of electrodes with electrolyte
Hypothesis :
My hypothesis is that the amount of electricity made from lemon is more than the amount of electricity made from potato.
Note: You can come up with your own hypothesis.
Experiment Design:
Read the following instructions and experiment making electricity using different fruits or fruit juices.
Make electricity from a lemon (or potato)
Electricity can be made by some chemical reactions. This method is used in batteries and creates direct current (DC). Here is a sample recipe of making electricity in chemical way. Material that you need for this experiment are:
- citrus fruit (lemons or limes work best)
- Copper electrode about 12 cm long, 4 cm wide ( 5 x 1.5 inches )
- Zinc electrode about 12 cm long, 4 cm wide ( 5 x 1.5 inches )
- One small light bulb (1.3 volts)
- Socket for light bulb
- Wire gauge 24 or similar
- Alligator clips
Step by step instructions:
2. Mount your bulb socket (base) on the board, cut about 1.5 feet wire and carefully remove the insulation of about 1″ on each end of your wires.
3. Connect one end of each wire to an alligator clip and the other end to the bulb socket.
5.Insert the electrodes into the fruit about 5 cm apart. Don’t allow the electrodes to go through the bottom skin of the fruit. If your electrodes are large sheets, cut as much as you need.
6. Connect alligator clips to the electrodes. You have light!
Important notes:
- If you just use a Voltmeter to show the electricity, you get a better result because small amount of electricity can simply move the needle of a volt-meter, but can not turn on a light bulb.
- More metal surface in contact with fruit results more electricity. Since the produced electricity is so little, you have little chance on turning on a light, but you can definitely show the produced voltage using a multi-meter and you can use that electricity to turn on a digital clock or small digital calculator, because these two need much less electricity than a bulb.
- Investigate the probability of using other fruits and vegetables to make electricity. Measure the pH of each “battery” and see if there is a relationship between the pH of the juice and the amount of light that is produced. If you have a multi meter, you can measure the voltage and current produced. You can measure pH using a pH paper.
|
|
| In this sample we are using a copper sulfate solution as an electrolyte (plus a few drops of sulfuric acid). One electrode is copper and the other is zinc. It created 0.9 volts electricity that was able to turn on a 1.2 volts light bulb for about 1 minute. |
L.E.D. or Light Emitting Diode is an electronic light source that needs less electrical current to light up. Use of LEDs instead of miniature light bulbs is recommended by ScienceProject.com because with LEDs, students will have a better chance to get a visible light in their experiments.
2-volt LEDs are available at MiniScience.com
Although LEDs do not require much current, they need a minimum voltage of about 2.2 volts.
We used (+) and (-) above just to remind you that copper is always the positive electrode and zinc is the negative electrode.
Identifying the polarity or direction of electricity is especially important when you are trying to light up an LED.
Each LED has 2 legs. One is longer than the other. The longer leg must be connected to the positive pole of the battery or copper. The shorter leg must be connected to the negative electrode or Zinc.
If you don’t have enough copper and zinc electrodes, you may cut your existing electrodes in half and make 2 electrodes form one; however, remember that electrodes cannot be very small. The surface contact of the electrodes with the fruit must be as much as possible in order to get the most electric current.
Question : I used 3 apples to light up the L.E.D. and I was successful but when
I used 3 apples to light up the 1.2 volts light bulb, I wasn’t
successful? How come?
Answer : 3 apples produce about 3 volts (1 volt per apple) and that is enough for either LED lamp or Incandescent lamp; however, the incandescent lamp needs more current than the LED lamp. The amount of current depends on the size of electrode and the surface of electrode in contact with fruit. You must use larger electrodes to produce higher current.
The other solution is to connect 3 apples in parallel. This may work if enough current is produced. In a parallel connection you will connect all copper electrodes to each other and all zinc electrodes to each other. Doing this is almost like having a larger electrode.
Make Electricity from Copper Sulfate Electrolyte
For this experiment we decided to use copper sulfate as electrolyte because copper sulfate is widely available at hardware stores and pull suppliers. You can also get small sheets of copper and zinc from hardware stores. If you could not find zinc, just get a galvanized iron. It does the same thing in a few seconds until the layer of zinc is destroyed. You will need to add a few drops of sulfuric acid for the process to speed up and turn on the light. Sulfuric acid also is known as battery acid and can be purchased from auto parts store. You need diluted sulfuric acid (about 5 to 10%). Acid sulfuric is very corrosive and you must have gloves, goggles and protecting clothing while handling it.
- 2 plastic or ceramic cup
- 2 sheets of copper (2″ x 4″)
- 2 sheets of zinc (2″ x 4″)
- 50 grams copper sulfate
- 10 cc Sulfuric Acid 10%
- One 1.2 Volts bulb with socket
- Three wires (with alligator clips if possible)
- One Multi-meter (Set to Voltage)
This chemical reaction creates about 0.7 volts that is barely light up a 1.2 Volts bulb. But is not able to light up a 2.5 volts bulb that is shown in this picture.
Now you know why I insist on low voltage bulb for this test.
Testing other electrolytes such as salt water and lemon juice produced much less electricity and no lights at all.
Multi-meter showed that each cup is producing 0.7 volts and 5 cups together produced 2.3 volts.
Even though we had 2.3 volts of electricity, it could not turn on the light. The reason is that small electrodes can not create enough electric current.
Latest Update: (Make a Sandwich)
This new experiment using copper sulfate produced a long lasting bright light.
Make about 30 mL saturated solution of Copper Sulfate.
Place one copper electrode on the table and connect it to one side of the light bulb.
Place a zinc plate over the felt.
Place another copper plate over the zinc plate.
Finally place another zinc on the top and connect that to the other side of the light bulb. You should get the light.
- Felt should get wet, but it should not have any excess liquid running off the felt.
- You may substitute the felt with any thick, absorbent cotton fabric.
Experiment 1: Compare different fruits for their ability to produce electricity.
Introduction : Fruits and fruit juices can be used as electrolyte in a fruit battery with copper and zinc electrodes. The amount of produced electricity depends on the soluble acids and minerals in each fruit. In this experiment you will compare different fruits and vegetables for the amount of electricity they produce. You will then use your results table to draw a bar graph:
Procedure :
- Insert one copper electrode and one zinc electrode in each of the fruits or fruit juices you want to test.
- Set your multi-meter or voltmeter to 2.5 Volts DC or closest available range to 2.5 volt. (DC stands for Direct Current)
- Connect the probes of the voltmeter to the copper and zinc electrodes. The red wire (+) must go to copper and the black (-) must go to Zinc.
- Read and record the voltage when the needle stops moving.
- Repeat this three times with each fruit and then calculate the average of voltages you got in your three trials. Record the average as the final voltage of that fruit in your results table.
Your results table may look like this:
| Orange | |
| Potato | |
| Apple |
Make a graph:
Use your results table to make a bar graph. Make one vertical bar for each of the fruits you have tested. The height of that bar will represent the voltage you got from the fruit it represents. Write the name of fruits under the bars.
What is the control in this experiment?
You can have another pair of electrodes inserted in an empty cup as a control. In this way you will show that electrodes do not make any electricity by themselves if they are not inserted in an electrolyte such as fruit or fruit juice.
Materials and Equipment:
List of materials:
- Galvanometer or voltmeter capable of showing millivolts. (Can be purchased from electronic stores or online from MiniScience.com)
- A small Light bulb with base. (1.2 Volts bulb is the best and you will have more chance to see some light)
- A piece of Zinc metal to be used as Zinc Electrode. (Hardware stores sell zinc screws. Those are steel screws coated by zinc. They can be used for quick experiments, however they will not work as soon as the zinc layer is dissolved in the electrolyte. For best results you can buy Zinc online)
- A piece of copper metal (can be purchased from hardware stores. I have used copper pipe and it worked well.)
| Multimeters used as Galvanometer or Voltmeter:Any multimeter that can measure low range DC voltage may be used to measure the output voltage of your Air/Saltwater battery. Two common models are AMM360 and YG188. | |
| Multimeter :YG188 is an analog multimeter for general electrical use. | |
| Multimeter : AMM360 is a desktop analog multitester for measuring DC Volt, AC Volt, DC Current and Resistance. AMM360 can be used as a very sensitive galvanometer and can show as low as 0.01 DC voltage. AMM360 can also be used to test transistors and diodes. | |
Where to buy?
Following online stores are affiliated or approved by ScienceProject.com for all materials you may need for this project.
http://shop.MiniScience.com
http://www.klk.com
http://www.ChemicalStore.com
Results of Experiment (Observation):
Write the results of your experiments in a table like this.
| Lemon | ||
| Apple | ||
| Potato | ||
| … |
In the first column write the name of fruit or electrolyte solution that you may test. In the second column write the voltage in volts or millivolts. In the last column write if the light came on or not.
Calculations:
No calculations is required for this experiment.
Summary of Results:
Summarize what happened. This can be in the form of a table of processed numerical data, or graphs. It could also be a written statement of what occurred during experiments.
It is from calculations using recorded data that tables and graphs are made. Studying tables and graphs, we can see trends that tell us how different variables cause our observations. Based on these trends, we can draw conclusions about the system under study. These conclusions help us confirm or deny our original hypothesis. Often, mathematical equations can be made from graphs. These equations allow us to predict how a change will affect the system without the need to do additional experiments. Advanced levels of experimental science rely heavily on graphical and mathematical analysis of data. At this level, science becomes even more interesting and powerful.
Conclusion:
Using the trends in your experimental data and your experimental observations, try to answer your original questions. Is your hypothesis correct? Now is the time to pull together what happened, and assess the experiments you did.
Related Questions & Answers:
What you have learned may allow you to answer other questions. Many questions are related. Several new questions may have occurred to you while doing experiments. You may now be able to understand or verify things that you discovered when gathering information for the project. Questions lead to more questions, which lead to additional hypothesis that need to be tested.
Possible Errors:
If you did not observe anything different than what happened with your control, the variable you changed may not affect the system you are investigating. If you did not observe a consistent, reproducible trend in your series of experimental runs there may be experimental errors affecting your results. The first thing to check is how you are making your measurements. Is the measurement method questionable or unreliable? Maybe you are reading a scale incorrectly, or maybe the measuring instrument is working erratically.
If you determine that experimental errors are influencing your results, carefully rethink the design of your experiments. Review each step of the procedure to find sources of potential errors. If possible, have a scientist review the procedure with you. Sometimes the designer of an experiment can miss the obvious.
Does degreasing and cleaning electrodes from oil and grease affect the amount of voltage?
References:
List of References
http://chemlearn.chem.indiana.edu/demos/Zinc.htm
http://quiz2.chem.arizona.edu/preproom/Demo%20Files/cu-zn_battery.htm
How to make a potato battery?
Lemon Battery
Potato Power
To find more references, search the Internet for Voltaic Cell or Galvanic Cell. What you are making in this project is really a voltaic cell; however, you are using fruit juice instead of chemicals as Electrolyte.
Why do we need a control?
When you finish your experiments and report your results, someone may question the reliability of the results and suggest that possibly some unknown conditions may have affected the results. That is why you also do another experiment known as control experiment in which you eliminate your manipulated variable. This is a possible scenario with this project:
You may report or say: Lemon made the most voltage!
I say: How do you know?
You say: I experimented and measured the voltage made by lemon.
I ask: At what time?
You may look at your notes and answer: At 9:25 a.m.
I ask: How can you be sure that at 9:25 a.m. another unknown factor such as solar activities or changes in room temperature or … was not the cause of high voltage?
Now is the time that you must show a control. If you have a control
You may say: I had a control using an identical voltmeter and an identical set of electrodes in an empty plastic cup (or a cup of water) and they did not show any voltage increase. If solar activities or other factors (other than lemon) wanted to increase the voltage at the time of my Lemon experiment, they would also cause a voltage increase in my control experiment.
It is always important for students, parents and teachers to know a good source for science related equipment and supplies they need for their science activities. Please note that many online stores for science supplies are managed by MiniScience.
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Want to contribute?
Fruit battery power.
To demonstrate how an electrical current can be generated using citrus fruits (such as lemons or limes) that is strong enough to power a small light bulb.
Additional information
Batteries are devices that store chemical energy and convert it to electrical energy. Consisting of one or more voltaic cells, batteries come in various sizes and forms and are integrated into most electronic and portable devices. Electrical current is the flow of electrons (movement) of an electrical charge and is measured using an ammeter. Solid conductive metals contain large population of free electrons, which are bound to the metal lattice and move around randomly due to thermal energy. When two terminals of a voltage source (battery) are connected via a metal wire, the free electrons of the conductor drift toward the positive terminal, making them the electrical current carrier within the conductor.
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Required materials.
- Citrus fruits, such as lemons, limes, grapefruits, or oranges.
- Copper nail, approximately 2 inches in length
- Galvanized (zinc) nail, about 2 inches in length
- Small colored or opaque light bulb with a 2 inch lead, such as a holiday LED light. Note that there needs to be enough wire to connect to the nails.
- Electrical tape or Crocodile (aka: gator) clip (optional)
- Micro Ammeter - a measuring instrument used to measure the electric current in a circuit, can be found at your local Radio Shack store. (optional)
Estimated Experiment Time
About 5 to 10 minutes
Step-By-Step Procedure
- 1. Prepare your fruit for the experiment by squeezing it on all sides with your hands. Make sure not to squeeze too tightly and break the skin! The idea is to soften the fruit enough so that the juice inside are flowing.
- 2. Insert your nails into the fruit, approximately 2 inches apart from one another. The ends (sharp tips) of the nails should be in the center of the fruit, but not touching one another. Be careful not to pierce the nails through the opposite end of the fruit.
- 3. Remove the insulation around the bulb wires (the leads) so you can expose the wire underneath. You need to remove enough insulation so you can wrap the exposed wire around the nails.
- 4. Take one of the exposed wires and wrap it around the galvanized (zinc) nail. If the wire keeps slipping off, use some electrical tape or gator clips to keep it attached.
- 5. Wrap the other end of the wire around the copper nail.
- 6. When the second wire is attached to the copper nail, your bulb will light up!
- 1. Connect one of the Micro Ammeter's terminals to the copper nail and attach with a Crocodile clip.
Observation
Do you think another kind of fruit would work with this experiment? How about a vegetable? Which fruit has the best conductivity? Do you think moving the nails further apart will change the current? Do you think your fruit will continue to power the light bulb after a few hours? How about a few days? Do you think the size of the fruit would effect the voltage?
The zinc nail is an active metal, which reacts with the acid in the fruit. The active ingredient in the fruit are positively charged ions. A transfer of electrons takes place between the zinc nail and the acid from the fruit. The nails act as poles for the battery, one positive and one negative. Electrons travel from the positive pole to the negative pole via the light bulb wire (the conductor), generating enough electricity to light the bulb.
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Insert one end of the copper wire into the apple at the same depth as the nail. The wire should be as close as possible to the nail without touching it, or about 2 centimeters away. The nail and the wire make up the two terminals in the apple battery. Turn on a voltmeter. Touch the red meter lead to either the nail or the wire.
This is designed to be performed on its own, but if you elect to do the "Light Bulb" experiment at the same time, it will help connect what's going on with the voltmeter reading to lighting the light bulb itself. Materials - 1 apple - About 4 in. wire with insulation removed, #12 or #18 works just fine - 1 steel nail, #6 or 8 works ...
The wires of the small light bulb are electrical conductors. When they are used to connect the copper and zinc, the electrons that have built upon the zinc flow into the wire. The flow of electrons is current or electricity. It's what powers small electronics or lights a light bulb. Eventually, the electrons make it to the copper.
Inspired by the science class project where fruits or vegetables are used to power a clock or LED light, Charland wired together 300 apples still on the tree to power a lamp. He put a zinc-coated galvanized nail into each apple and a bare copper wire into the other end to create a current through the electrolytes (charged particles) in the fruit.
Light up a light bulb. You must be able to light up a small light bulb (included in your kit) with a regular 1.5-volt battery (Any size battery will work fine. The most common sizes are AA, C or D size). Try this: Screw the lightbulb into the base. Connect a red wire to one of the screws on the base.* Connect a black wire to the other screw on ...
This chemical reaction creates about 0.7 volts that is barely light up a 1.2 Volts bulb. But is not able to light up a 2.5 volts bulb that is shown in this picture. In the next experiment we connected two cups together as shown in the picture. That created about 1.2 volts and produced a small light on our 2.5 volts bulb.
Johnnie will show you each step to light a light bulb using citrus fruit. This creates a battery that produces voltage needed to light a small LED bulb. We...
The size of the light bulb will affect how brightly it's lit. LED lights require the least amount of energy to light and thus are the best candidates for this experiment. If you have a Micro Ammeter, you can use it to compare the effectiveness of various fruits in relation to electrical current. If using a Micro Ammeter, follow these steps: 1.
Use a kitchen knife to cut a penny-sized slit in all four lemons. Insert a penny halfway into each of the four slits you cut. Push a zinc-galvanized nail into each of the lemons, opposite the penny. Don't let the nail and penny touch in or out of the lemon. Use a set of alligator clips to connect a nail on one lemon to a penny on another lemon.
Fruit Battery Science Experiment Directions. 1. Roll the fruit around on the counter to get the juices flowing. 2. Insert the piece of copper into the fruit. 3. Insert the nail into the fruit at least an inch away from the piece of copper. If you insert them at an angle, make sure that the pieces do not touch each other inside the fruit.
The rods should stick straight up and be as close to the ends of the produce pieces as possible. The rods should slide about halfway into the produce. Clip one alligator clip wire to each copper and steel rod. The other ends of the wires should hang loose. Place the other end of each alligator clip wire on one piece of produce on the light bulb ...
Tape your breadboard to a piece of cardboard. Tape a cardboard box about 1 cm away from the edge of the breadboard. The exact distance does not matter, as long as it remains constant throughout your experiment. Bend the LED and photoresistor 90° to the side, so they both face the cardboard box.
Basic Fruit Battery. A basic fruit battery can be made using a fresh lemon. While other fruits can be used, the high acidity of citrus fruits makes them the best for these experiments. Roll the lemon gently on the table to activate the juices, being careful not to break the skin. Cut two small slices, 1/2 inch apart, in the lemon and insert a ...
Next, insert the zinc coated nail (negative terminal) about 1-1.5cm away from the copper nail. Repeat steps one and two for a second piece of fruit. Using a crocodile clip, connect the negative terminal (zinc nail) in one piece of fruit to the positive terminal (copper nail) in the next piece of fruit until all the piece are connected.
Take your bulb and peel off its plastic insulation, expose the wire underneath. Wrap the exposed wires around the head of the 2 nails. Use the electrical tape to secure each end of the wire on the nails. With the bulb's wires attached securely to both the copper nail and the galvanized nail, your coloured bulb will light up! Discussion
If you have fruit, a couple of nails, and wire then you can generate electricity to turn on a light bulb. Learn how to make a fruit battery. It's fun, safe, and easy. What You Need? : 1-citrus fruit (e.g., lime, orange, grapefruit) 2-copper nail, screw or wire (about 2" or 5 cm long) 3-zinc nail or screw or galvanized nail (about 2" or 5 cm long)
When you are conducting experiments and demonstrations using electricity, you'll use the science of circuits. Amazing things are possible with circuits including alarms, radios, and lights. In the Build a Light Bulb experiment, you'll use household items to construct a complete circuit that results in a homemade light bulb.
EXPERIMENT STEPS. Step 1: Cut 2 small slits in the skin of both the lemon and the potato. Make the slits are a few inches apart. Step 2: Push the copper and zinc strips into the slits in each piece of produce. Make sure the rods do not touch each other. Step 3: Connect an electrical wire to the end of each metal strip.
Electrical circuit with lemons. A chemical reaction between the copper and zinc plates and the citric acid produces a small current, that is able to power a light bulb. We're going "Back To School ...
Though it's certainly not a practical way to light your home, you can generate electricity from fruit. The acid in fruit interacts with electrodes to create a small amount of voltage. Creating a fruit battery is an interesting experiment to try with school-age children. Once you have the necessary materials, you can experiment with different ...
Wrap some copper wire around each penny a few times. Use a different piece of wire for each penny. Stick the pennies in the slits you cut into the potato halves. Wrap some of the third copper wire around one of the zinc-plated nails and stick the nail into one of the potato halves. Take the wire connected to the penny in the half of potato with ...
Insert the one copper strip and one zinc strip vertically into the lemon, with one end sticking out. Connect one wire lead to each metal strip (electrode). Connect one of the free ends of the wire leads to one of the wires attached to the LED. Connect the remaining free end of the wire lead to the remaining free wire on the bulb.
Closed, open, and short circuits. Electrical current is represented by the yellow arrows. In the open circuit, no current flows at all. In the closed circuit, current flows through the lightbulb, causing it to light up. In the short circuit, current flows directly between the battery terminals, bypassing the lightbulb, so it does not light up.