Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
When the zinc-plated screw comes into contact with the citric acid in the
lemon, it starts two chemical reactions. In one reaction, called oxidation,
the acid begins to remove the zinc atoms from the plating on the screw.
Two electrons are then removed from each zinc atom, giving the zinc
atom a positive charge of two.
These charged zinc atoms, called zinc ions, remain in the lemon and
darken the area near the screw after some time has passed.
The other reaction, called reduction, focuses on the positively charged
hydrogen atoms, or hydrogen ions, in the citric acid near the screw.
These ions accept electrons released by the oxidation reaction and form
hydrogen gas, which can sometimes be seen bubbling out around the
screw.
The hydrogen ions are called oxidation agents, because of their tendency
to remove electrons from the zinc.
established between the zinc-plated screw and the copper penny, the
copper draws electrons out of the screw through the circuit and back into
the lemon through the coin.
When the circuit includes a light-emitting diode (LED), the electric current can make it light up.
The voltage of the lemon electric cell comes from the relative difference in the ability of zinc and
copper to give up electrons. The electric current provided by the cell depends on the quantity of
electrons released by the chemical reactions, among other things.
Source: Snyder, Carl H. (1998). The Extraordinary Chemistry of Ordinary Things, 3rd ed., New York: Wiley 1998, pp 258271.
Generating electricity using a lemon is a very common experiment which is conducted to make
students understand the functioning of a battery. But what is common between a battery and a
lemon? What is it inside the lemon that conducts electricity? Find the answers to these questions
in the article.
Introduction
Every one of us is familiar with the school experiment involving a lemon conducting electricity.
This 5th grader experiment, though simple, still arouses curiosity in people of all ages. However,
there are many who still dont know as to how and why electricity is produced from a lemon. In
this article we will try to unravel the mystery once and for all.
Inppamet Anodes
www.inppamet.com
Sustainable electrometallurgy IC ANODE. Zinc Electrowinning.
Ads by Google
In a conventional battery, the two electrodes are two different metal pieces (Usually copper and
zinc), submerged in an acidic solution (electrolyte) and connected through an external wiring to a
voltmeter or a small bulb. Similarly, for a lemon battery experiment, two different metals in
the form of a zinc nail and a copper coin are inserted into a juicy lemon. The lemon battery is
also known as a voltaic battery which produces electricity by converting chemical energy to
electrical energy.
Image Credits
1. 18-gauge copper wire (smaller gauge will work too, but 18-gauge is stiffer)
2. Wire clippers
3. Steel paper clip (Some people find that a 2-inch strip of zinc works better)
4. Sheet of coarse sandpaper
5. Lemon
6. Help from an older friend or an adult
The lemon battery is called a voltaic battery, which changes chemical energy into
electrical energy.
The battery is made up of two different metals (the steel paper clip and the copper
wire). These are called electrodes, which are the parts of a battery where electric
current enters or leaves the battery. The electrodes are placed in a liquid containing an
electrolyte, which is a solution that can conduct electricity.
In a solution of water and an electrolyte, like the acid in the lemon, an excess of
electrons collects on one end of the electrodes. At the same time, electrons are lost
from the other electrode.
Touching the electrodes to your tongue closes the circuit and allows an small electric
current to flow. A single lemon produces about 7/10 of a volt of electricity. If you
connected two lemons together, you can power an inexpensive digital watch (uses
about 1.5 volts). (Use a length of thin, flexible wire to connect the silver wire of one
lemon to the copper wire of the other lemon. Then attach thin wires from the other
two wires in the lemons to where a battery's positive and negative poles connect to
power the watch.)
The tingle felt in your tongue and the metallic taste is due to the movement of
electrons through the saliva on your tongue.
Note About Lemon Energy
We've had some students do this project and then try to use the lemon
"battery" to light a small flashlight's light bulb. The lemons did not
work. Why? The reason is that the lemons produce only a very small
current (about one milliamp). This is not enough electric current to light
the bulb. Even with multiple lemons, the amount of current flowing
through the wire is not enough. Though the voltage is high enough (1.5
volts with two lemons), the current is too weak. But it was a great
experiment! Even if an experiment doesn't work, it helps us to
understand how things work. Good work!!!
(www.bluffton.edu/~bergerd/chem/food_batteries.html)
Dr. Dan's Homepage: The Official Lemon-Power Website! - using lemons to power stuff!
(www.autopenhosting.org/lemon/index.html)
well as the lights inside a car, or their car's headlights at night when they need them.
Note - if the meter shows a minus sign "-" in front of the number, just switch the meter leads
(black and red wires) around so that the black wire touches the other end of the battery.
Go ahead and touch one of the meter leads to the nail and the
other to the wire. What happens? The reading you see may be
different from one lemon to another, and from one trial to the
next. This is because the voltage difference we see depends on
how far apart the terminals are, how well we make contact with
the meter leads, how much and how strong the juice (our
Electrolyte) is in each lemon, as well as other things that we
cannot easily control in this experiment.
The important thing to note is that there is definitely a voltage difference.
Replace the copper wire with the zinc nail. Touch a meter lead
to each nail as shown in the photo. What happened with the
lemon battery this time? Same voltage? Higher? Lower?
This time replace the steel nail with the copper wire. Zinc and
Copper make great battery terminals. Can you see why?
If there is time, replace the lemon with an apple or a potato and repeat. The links will take you to
that experiment if you would like to review how it relates to the lemon battery first.
If you demonstrated the experiment, try to give the students some time to do the lemon battery
project themselves. Have them put the black and red leads directly together to show them
nothing happens if there is no space between the meter wires. Have them pull the meter leads
apart ever so slightly. That will show them nothing happens by itself even if the leads are very
close together, but not in the lemon. Have them stick each lead directly into the lemon, close or
far apart. That will show them nothing happens that way either. It only works when you have two
different materials, close together but not touching in the lemon. But if you have the right two
materials, it sure works then.
As a group, let them know the same thing that causes the light in a flashlight to come on is what
causes the meter to move. If you decided to do the two projects together, go ahead and reinforce
that by turning the light on again. You can even use the volt meter to show how the needle moves
when you connect it to a "real" battery.
Then ask what they think would happen if you could hook up a light to the lemon instead of the
battery. Now is your chance to let them know a bit about some basic electricity, a few science
terms and perhaps even answer a few science questions about how things work.
What just happened?
For the teacher as noted in Electricity Science Projects related to Charge, a lemon battery
provides a potential difference much like in a car battery. Two dissimilar metals are immersed in
the lemon's juice, which acts as the electrolyte. The wire and nails act as the cathode (+ terminal)
and anode (- terminal), and similar chemical reactions take place when the voltmeter is hooked
up. Ions flow through the electrolyte and electrons flow through the wire.
If the terminals in our experiment are not connected to the meter, no voltage potential can be
read. Likewise, if the two metals in the lemon are the same, the chemical reactions do not occur,
no ions flow in the electrolyte and no voltage potential is generated ... in other words, nothing
happens. If we do use the right metals for our terminals, and we connect the voltmeter as shown
in the above photos, we will get a voltage reading.
One question may remain ... why can't we turn a light bulb on with this battery? The answer is,
even if we connected several lemon batteries together (in series) to get the same voltage as in a D
cell battery, the current we can get out of a lemon battery is just too small to light the bulb. But it
is fun to try!
For the students as long as we have the right metals in the lemon, and we connect the voltmeter
to each of those metals (battery terminals), we will read a voltage on the meter.
Summarize by letting them know - even though the voltage we see is small and our lemon
battery just isn't not strong enough to turn on a light by itself, it is the same thing that happens in
a flashlight.
After the fruit battery series, try the Coin battery project. It's pretty fun too.
Has your flashlight ever stopped working because the batteries were dead? Its no fun walking
around in complete darkness. Batteries are everywherein our toys, in our cars, in our
flashlights and cell phones. But how do they work? What makes them stop working? You can
learn how to make a lemon battery to learn more about these very important devices.
Problem:
How does a battery work?
Materials:
Wire stripper/clipper
Steel paper clip, small galvanized nail (one that is covered in zinc), or a piece of zinc
(ideal)
Procedure
1. Ask your grown-up to use the wire strippers to first strip about 2 1/2 inches of plastic
insulation off the copper wire. Then, request that the grown-up clip that piece of stripped
wire off of the main roll.
2. Carefully straighten the steel paper clip. Use the wire clippers to cut it to the same length
as your copper wire.
3. Use the sandpaper to rub out any rough spots in your wire or paperclip. You are going to
be touching the wire ends to your tongue, so you want them to be smooth. If you are
using the zinc covered nail or piece, scratch it lightly with the sand paper to expose a
fresh surface.
4. Roll the lemon gently on a table to break the cell walls and loosen up the juice inside. The
sour juice is needed for the chemical reaction that you are about to start. The fact that
the juice is sour should give us some hints about what kind of chemicals make up lemon
juice. What do you think the sour flavor might tell us?
5. Carefully stick the copper wire about 1 inch into the lemon.
6. Make sure your tongue is moist with saliva, or spit. Touch your tongue to the copper
wire. Do you notice anything?
7. Stick the paperclip, zinc covered nail or zinc strip into a spot in the lemon about 1/4 inch
away from the copper wire. Make sure the wires dont touch. The wires need to be close
to each other because they will be swapping matter in the chemical reaction. If they are
too far apart, the matter might lose their way.
8. This time, touch your moistened tongue to both wire ends. What do you notice?
Results
When you touched your tongue to just the copper wire, you most likely would not have noticed
anything unusual. When you touched your tongue to BOTH of the metal ends, you might have
felt a tingle, or noticed a metallic taste.
Why
The tingle or metal taste you noticed shows that your lemon battery was generating an electric
current. That means tiny electrons were moving across the surface of your tongue. Electrons are
subatomic particles that zoom around an atoms center and make up the part of the atom that is
negatively charged.
The lemon battery you made is a type of battery called a voltaic battery. These types of batteries
are made of two different metals, which act as electrodes, or places where electrons can enter or
leave a battery. In your case, the electrical current entered your tongue, which is why you felt a
tingle.
So why were we able to stick electrodes into a lemon and get a battery? All voltaic batteries need
their metals to be placed in an electrolyte. An electrolyte is a substance that can carry electrical
current when dissolved in water. The tiny bit of salt in your saliva makes your saliva an
electrolyte, and the sour citric acid does the same thing for lemon juice. Batteries stop working
when there is not enough of the electrolyte to react with the metal or not enough metal left to
react with the electrolyte.
Going Further
You can generate more electrical current by connecting multiple lemon batteries. Just make a
second battery and connect the zinc or steel piece of one battery with the copper wire of the other
battery using another piece of copper wire to act as a bridge.
You can use your enlarged lemon battery to power a low-power device like a digital watch or
calculator. Remove the regular battery from the digital watch or calculator. Then, hook up the
copper electrode of your lemon battery with battery slots positive contact. Connect the zinc or
iron electrode with the negative contact. Can you get the device to work?
If you are looking to test a variable, try making batteries using different fruits and vegetables.
Which ones produce the biggest tingle on your tongue? Which ones generate the most electric
current?
Disclaimer and Safety Precautions
Education.com provides the Science Fair Project Ideas for informational purposes only.
Education.com does not make any guarantee or representation regarding the Science Fair Project
Ideas and is not responsible or liable for any loss or damage, directly or indirectly, caused by
your use of such information. By accessing the Science Fair Project Ideas, you waive and
renounce any claims against Education.com that arise thereof. In addition, your access to
Education.coms website and Science Fair Project Ideas is covered by Education.coms Privacy
Policy and site Terms of Use, which include limitations on Education.coms liability.
Warning is hereby given that not all Project Ideas are appropriate for all individuals or in all
circumstances. Implementation of any Science Project Idea should be undertaken only in
appropriate settings and with appropriate parental or other supervision. Reading and following
the safety precautions of all materials used in a project is the sole responsibility of each
individual. For further information, consult your states handbook of Science Safety.
Fruit Power
Did you know that some of the fruits and vegetables you eat can also help you make electricity?
Try this and see!
Small knife
Digging Deeper
Find out more
about
how the lemon battery works.
What to Do
1. The juice inside each lemon needs to be released. You
can dothis by rolling each lemon along the table top. Press
down with your hand and roll until you feel the lemon
become sort of "squishy." The purpose of this is to release
the juice inside the lemon. This step is very important; it
helps you to get the maximum response from your lemons.
2. Push and then twist a zinc-plated screw into one of the
lemons about one-third of the way from one end. With the
knife, carefully cut a 1-cm (0.40-in) slit into the lemon, about one-third of the way from the other
end.
Caution: It might be better for an adult to handle the knife. In all cases, please work with the
knife slowly and carefully.
3. Insert a copper coin into the slit so that about half of the coin is inside the lemon.
(Note: Make sure you use a shiny new coin for this. If it is old and dull, polish it with steel
wool.)
Believe it or not, you can now get electricity from the lemon! It behaves like an electric cell, with
the coin as the positive (+) terminal and the screw as the negative (-) terminal. Unfortunately, it
is a very weak cell. But if you set up two more lemons in this manner, you can join them to make
a lemon battery.
4. Add coins and screws to the other two lemons the same way you did with the first. Then join
the three lemons using the wires and clips. The screw of the first lemon should be connected to
the coin of the second lemon, and so on. Don't forget to add wires and clips to the first coin and
the last screw.
5. Label the clip from the first coin with a "+" and the clip from the last screw with a "-". Like a
real battery, your lemon battery has a positive (+) terminal and a negative (-) terminal.
When connected like thisin what is called a series connectionthe lemons work together to
create about the same voltage, or electrical force, as two small flashlight batteries, somewhere
between 2.5 and 3 volts. But this lemon battery does not create enough electrical current to light
a flashlight bulb.
How can we tell if we really have created a battery? One way is to connect it to an electronic
device that needs no more than about 2.5 to 3 volts but that does not require much electrical
current. One such device is called a light-emitting diode, or LED for short. A low voltage and
small current can cause an LED to light up.
The specifications on our LED package are: 5-mm LED, 1.8 volt (V), 20 milliamps (mA). This
means the diameter of the LED is 5 mm, and that it requires 1.8 V and 20 mA of current to light
up. Actually, the LED will light up dimly with less than 20 mA. Our lemon battery has enough
volts but not nearly enough milliamps. So we will have to find a way to see its dim light. We
tried enclosing it in a dark, opaque plastic container to shield it from outside light.
6. With the nail, carefully punch two holes in the sides of the plastic
container, about halfway down. You might want to get an adult to do
this for you.
7. Next, mark one hole with a "+" label and the other with a "-" label.
8. Bend the wires of the LED into smooth outward curves. Then
observe the LED closely. It is mostly round; however, if you tilt it in
a certain way, you will be able to see a flat surface near one of the
wires. The wire nearest this flat surface is the negative terminal. In
the photograph the wire on the left is the negative terminal of the
LED. Can you see the small flat surface by the leftmost wire?
9. Line up the negative terminal wire of the LED with the "-" labeled
hole in the container. Insert the LED into the container. Thread the
negative terminal wire of the LED through the "-" labeled hole, and
thread the other (positive terminal) wire through the "+" labeled hole.
10. Pull the wires through the holes and secure them in place with the
labels. Add labels to the top of the containter as well. Make sure that
the LED is facing up.
Lets get everything prepared for the big moment. Line up the "+"
side of the LED container with the "+" clip of your lemon battery.
Bring the "-" clip of your lemon battery close to the "-" side of the
container.
11. Now we are ready. Connect the positive terminal of the LED
to the positive terminal of your lemon battery. Connect the
negative terminal of the LED to the negative terminal of your
battery. The LED lights up!
The LED is very dim, owing to the small electrical current from
your battery. The dark container helps you to see this dim light.
The end of the LED acts like a magnifying glass. When you look
directly into the end of the LED, you can see the light easily.
This proves that you really have made a lemon battery that works! Congratulations!
Troubleshooting
If you cant see the LED light up try these fixes:
1. You may have the polarity of the LED reversed, that is, the + and - switched. Reverse the
LED and see if it lights up.
2. The LED may be very dim. Try it in a darker room and let you eyes adjust to the dimmer
light before testing.
3. Make sure all of the connections are secure: wires clipped to the coins and screws, and
coins and screws firmly in the lemons.
Now think big with the idea of the lemon battery: Build this
supersized cell
Cleanliness is an attitude
Introduction:
Cleanliness is one of the good qualities. It is a part of our civilization. A man of dirty habits is far
from civilization. So, with the progress of civilization man cleans himself more and more. He
cleans his body. He cleans his mind and heart. He cleans all his action and manners. he cleans his
soul. This will lead him to the highest form of civilization. But on the cleanliness of body,
depend all other cleanings. Hence, cleanliness is considered so important.
Usefulness:
If we clean our bodies and limbs we will be free form many kinds of disease. Clean food cooked
in the clean pot and served in the clean dishes, will give us health and happiness. If we clean our
bodies regularly, our complexion will be brighter. We will look fit and smart. If we wear clean
dress our mind will be happy. Cleanliness gives us a cheerful mind. We are more interested to
write on a clean khata than on a dirty one. Hence, we write more and better. We like to read clean
books. Hence, we read more and understand better. So, cleanliness brings us progress and
improvement in all fields of activities and in all spheres of life. By cleanliness of body and limbs,
cleanliness of all our articles of use, cleanliness of our dwellings and soul, we gradually move
towards divinity. Hence, there is saying. "Cleanliness is next to Godliness".
How to keep clean:
In order to keep ourselves neat and clean, we should properly take daily care of ourselves, of our
articles of use, of our dwellings and surroundings and of our neighborhood. We should clean our
teeth and tongues two times a day in the morning and before going to bed. Beside, we should
clean our mouth properly before and after each meal and each tiffin. We should was our bodies
two times a day with soap and water. We should clean our cloth and shirts with washing soap
everyday at the time of bath. We should sweep our house off all dirts. We should remove the filth
and rubbish into a pit, dug out at a distance for this purpose. We should clean our beddings and
lay them exposed to sun and air. We should look to the proper drainage and sanitation work of
our house and the surrounding. We should wash our house and furniture with soda and water
once a week. We should advice our neighbors to be neat and clean. Because we cannot be
perfectly clean, if our neighbors are dirty. We should wash our latrines and urinals everyday with
dettol and phenyl. We should get our hair cut and our nails pared at proper intervals. These are
some important to keep ourselves neat and clean.
Conclusion:
it is really a matter of sorrow that most of our students are dirty. It is very sorrowful when we
think that they keep dirty. Though they read science and hygiene. To make our countrymen neat
and clean we should put ideals in the public institutions. So, our students should learn to keep
themselves clean regularly.