Why does lemons make electricity

This type of connection is called a series circuit , and provides one path through which electricity can flow. Connect the LED. Gently bend the lead wires of the LED apart from each other. Connect a lead wire from the copper electrode of the first lemon cell to the longer lead wire from the LED. Connect a lead wire from the zinc electrode of the third cell to the shorter wire of the LED. Turn down the room lights to see if your LED is glowing!

Troubleshooting your lemon battery: Ensure the electrodes are not touching inside lemon. Ensure the alligator clips on the test lead wires are not touching each other where you connect them to the LED.

The wires from one lemon to the other have to be connected from zinc to copper in order for the electricity to flow. Is it an old lemon? The lemon needs to be juicy inside. Do you need to add more lemons? Is your LED broken? Or does it require a higher voltage to work? The quality of the copper and zinc can be problematic. Pennies are rarely pure copper. Try substituting a length of 14 gauge copper wire common house wire. Experiment with different lengths and configurations of electrodes.

Other sources of zinc and copper may be found in the plumbing department of a hardware store. Discovery Questions Beginning the Experiment Why did we need to clean the electrodes first?

Dirt or grease on the electrodes may interfere with the conductivity of the metals. If the surface of the metal has oxidized, the oxidized surface will interfere with the conductivity of the metal as well. What do you think the sour flavor tells us? The citric acid in lemon juice is what makes the lemon taste sour, and acids contain ions which conduct electricity.

Why is it important that the electrodes do not touch each other inside the lemon? If the electrodes touch each other then you'll "short circuit" the battery and it won't work. So instead of the electrons flowing through the intended wires and circuit, they will flow directly between the electrodes in the lemon path of least resistance.

Does it still light the LED? If you push three nails and three copper pennies into the same lemon, you should get roughly three times as much electric current - as long as there's enough space in the lemon and enough lemon juice, the power is in the zinc. We recommend having a multimeter or voltmeter on hand to test the voltage. Describe the relationship between an electron and current electricity. Per Pair of Students: lemon and other fruit, optional 1 copper strip 1 zinc strip you can use a galvanized nail, which is coated with zinc knife 2 copper wire leads each about 20 cm long with alligator clips on both ends LED bulb with a rating of no more than 2 volts the smaller the voltage, the better wire cutters wire strippers.

What happens when you connect the wire to the bulb? What is the power source? What role does the lemon play in lighting up the bulb? When we use two strips of the same metal, does the bulb light up? Is water a good conductor of electrical current? Is salt a good conductor of electrical current?

How do you know? You may need at least 3 lemons per battery for any visible movement to occur on the voltometer. Details Activity Length 15 mins. You can make a battery using a piece of fruit? Yes , technically, but not a very strong one! Objectives Describe the relationship between an electron and current electricity. If you suffer a power outage that leaves you in the dark, and your flashlight is out of batteries, you might find the energy to power the bulb in your refrigerator.

An orange, lemon or lime can act as a battery, and while a single one might not generate enough voltage to illuminate an LED bulb, several wired in series will. Citrus fruits can do this because they contain citric acid, an electrolyte that allows electricity to flow. The power actually comes from the electron exchange between a pair of electrodes that you insert in the fruit pulp. For the exchange to be powerful enough to do anything useful, you need a strong conducting medium, and citrus fruits — especially lemons — have that in spades.

The citric acid in citrus fruits is an electrolyte that allows electricity to flow between electrodes made from dissimilar metals. Whether you know what they are or not, your body uses electrolytes constantly to transmit the electrical impulses that make life possible. An electrolyte is a fluid that contains free ions. They can come from dissolved salts or from acids that donate free positively charged hydrogen atoms — protons — to solution. Because the ions can move around freely, they gravitate toward a source of opposite charge and away from a source of like charge.

You don't need much to make a battery out of a lemon or a lime. The electrolyte is already present in the fruit, so all you have to add is a pair of electrodes and some conducting wire to connect them. The electrodes need to be made from dissimilar metals to create a potential difference between them.

Zinc and copper are a good pair.