Strand: Understanding Matter and Energy: Electricity and Electrical Devices

Lemon Battery

Grade Level: 6

Strand: Understanding Matter and Energy: Electricity and Electrical Devices

Specific Expectations:

-Design, build, and test a device that produces electricity

-Design and build series and parallel circuits

Materials:

·  1-2 lemons

·  Galvanized nails (contains zinc) or paper clip

·  Copper wire or penny

·  Alkaline battery

·  L.E.D. Bulb

·  Wire cutter

·  Mini jumper cables

·  Multi-meter

Procedure:

·  Roll the lemon on the table to loosen the pulp

·  Stick the galvanized nail in about 2 inches

·  Stick copper wire in about 2 cm apart from nail and 2 inches in, straight down and make sure they do not touch each other on the inside

·  Test that it works by taking the multi-meter and attaching each cable to an electrode to prove that there is electricity

·  To prove the production of electrical energy take the LED bulb and attach the flat side of the wire that comes from the bulb to negative lead jumper cable

·  Attach the other side with the positive lead jumper cable.

·  To make sure you have set it up properly, take a standard alkaline battery and touch both ends with the jumper cables. It should light up.

·  Next attach the LED to the lemon cell

·  Attach the negative side to the galvanized nail and the positive side the copper wire

Scientific Explanation:

Circuit: The complete path of an electric current around a series of wires and connections. If there is a break in the circuit, the current will not flow.

Conduction: The movement or transmission of energy through a substance

Conductor: A material that transmits heat, electrical, or other kinds of energy.

Current: the flow of electricity

Electrical Energy: Energy produced by the movement of electrons

Electrons (particle): An extremely small constituent of matter that are free to move

Voltage: high and forceful energy

The copper wire gives up negative electrons to the galvanized nail, which makes the wire the positive electrode, and the nail the negative. Rolling the lemon loosens the pulp and creates juice inside which consists of citric acid. The citric acid in the lemon is the electrolyte, which allows for the movement of the electrons from one electrode to the other, in this case then would be the nail and copper wire. Once you connect the exposed ends of the copper wire and the galvanized nail this will create a loop or circuit, which allows for the electrons to move as quickly as possible in this formation, thus creating a short circuit.

There are positive and negative electrons flowing through the lemon and the wire and nail to produce the electrical energy. Since there are two different metals in this lemon the electrons get pushed harder in one direction to create the flow of electricity. If there were only kind of metal the electrons would not flow because the push is the same from both ends. The more electrons you have the higher voltage you will create and the faster the current will run creating more electricity. To gain more electrons you will need to create more lemon batteries and connect them together to produce more electrical energy.

Resources:

The Ontario Curriculum – Elementary – Science and Technology Documents http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/scientec.html

ZOOM – By Kids, for Kids! http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/lemonbattery.html

Youtube – ViewDo: How to Make a Lemon Battery <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JI2NWw1yxo