research on lemon battery

July 23, 2015

Generate Electricity with a Lemon Battery

A tingly science project from Science Buddies

By Science Buddies

Did you know you can make a battery out of a piece of fruit? You'll be charged up on science when you feel the success of your homemade electricity!

George Retseck

Key concepts Electricity Batteries Electrochemical reaction Electric conductor

Introduction Can you imagine how your life would change if batteries did not exist? If it were not for this handy way to store electrical energy, we would not be able to have all of our portable electronic devices, such as phones, tablets and laptop computers. So many other items—from remote-control cars to flashlights to hearing aids—would also need to be plugged into a wall outlet in order to function.

In 1800 Alessandro Volta invented the first battery, and scientists have been hard at work ever since improving previous designs. With all this work put into batteries and all the frustration you might have had coping with dead ones, it might surprise you that you can easily make one out of household materials. Try this activity and it might just charge your imagination!

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Background Batteries are containers that store chemical energy, which can be converted to electrical energy—or what we call electricity . They depend on an electrochemical reaction to do this. The reaction typically occurs between two pieces of metal, called electrodes , and a liquid or paste, called an electrolyte . For a battery to work well, the electrodes must be made up of two different types of materials. This ensures one will react differently than the other with the electrolyte. This difference is what generates electricity. Connect the two electrodes with a material that can transport electricity well (called a conductor ) and the chemical reactions fire up; the battery is generating electricity! As you make connections, note that electricity likes to take the path of least resistance. If there are multiple ways to go from one electrode to the other, the electricity will take the path that lets it flow most easily.

Now that you know the essentials of a battery, let's examine some household materials. Aluminum foil is a good conductor—electricity flows easily through it. The human body conducts electricity as well, but not as well as aluminum foil. Electrodes are as common as copper pennies you might have stashed in your piggy bank. As for electrolytes, they are found all over the kitchen; lemon juice is just one example. A simple household battery might be easier to make than you imagined!

At least two pennies

A few drops of dishwashing soap

Paper towels

Aluminum foil (at least nine by 60 centimeters)

At least one lemon (preferably with a thin skin)

Knife (and an adult's help when using it)

At least two plastic-coated paper clips

Preparation

Wash your pennies in soapy water, then rinse and dry them off with a paper towel. This will remove any dirt sticking to them.

Carefully cut three aluminum foil rectangles, each three centimeters by 20 centimeters.

Fold each strip in thirds lengthwise to get three sturdy one-centimeter-by-20-centimeter aluminum strips.

Note: In this activity you will make a very low-voltage battery. The amount of electricity generated by this homemade battery is safe, and you will even be able to test it by touching your finger to it and feeling the weak current. Higher voltages of electricity, however, can be very dangerous and even deadly; you should not experiment with commercial batteries or wall outlets.

Place the lemon on its side on a plate and have an adult carefully use the knife to make a small cut near the middle of the lemon (away from either end). Make the cut about two centimeters long and one centimeter deep.

Make a second, similar cut about one centimeter away and parallel to the first cut.

Push a penny in the first cut until only half of it is showing above the lemon skin. Part of the penny should be in contact with the lemon juice because that is what serves as the electrolyte. This copper penny in contact with the lemon juice serves as your first electrode. Note: If your lemon has a very thick skin, you might need an adult to carefully cut away some lemon peel. Why do you think is it important for part of the penny to be in contact with the lemon juice?

Slide one of the aluminum strips in the second cut until you are sure part of the aluminum is in contact with the lemon juice. Can you guess which part of a battery the aluminum strip that sits inside the lemon is? Do you think it is important for the aluminum to be in contact with the lemon juice?

You have just made a battery! It has two electrodes made of different metals and an electrolyte separating them . Do you think this battery is generating electricity or is there still something missing?

Your battery can generate electricity but will only do so when the electrodes are connected with something that conducts electricity. To make a connection attach the second aluminum strip to the part of the penny sticking out of the lemon with a plastic-coated paper clip. Make sure the aluminum touches the penny so electricity can pass between the copper and aluminum. You used an aluminum strip to create a connection; would you expect a plastic strip to work as well? Do you know why you do not need to create a connection to the second electrode for this particular battery?

As soon as the two aluminum strips touch one another, electricity will be produced in the battery and flow through the strips, from one electrode to the other. Because you cannot see the electricity flowing, you can try to feel it. Keep the two strips about one centimeter apart and touch your fingertip to them. Can you feel a tingling, created by a small amount of electricity running from one aluminum strip to the other through your body ?

For more electrical juice (and slightly stronger tingling sensation), you can build a second battery, identical to the first. You can choose a different spot on the lemon you just used or use a second lemon to build a second battery. Note that you only need one aluminum strip to build a second battery. To connect the second one to the original find the aluminum strip of the first battery that serves as electrode. (It has its end inserted in the lemon.) Use a plastic-coated paper clip to attach the other end of this aluminum strip to the penny of the second battery. This connects the aluminum electrode of the first battery to the copper electrode of the second battery.

Test this set of connected batteries in a similar way as you tested the single battery, bringing the ends of the two aluminum foil strips sticking out of your battery set (those that have a free end) in contact with your fingertip. Can you feel electricity running? If you could feel it well the first time, is this any different? (Note: If you cannot feel the tingling sensation, check if each electrode—pennies and the aluminum strips stuck in the lemon—are inserted deep enough so they are in contact with lemon juice; make sure there is firm contact between the penny and its attached aluminum strip; and that the aluminum strips are not touching one another. If all is correct, maybe you need slightly more electricity to feel tingling. You can test another person to see if he or she can feel the electricity or you can opt to add one more lemon battery to your set.)

Extra: Now that you can detect whether electricity is generated or not, try some different configurations. What happens if you let the aluminum strips touch? What happens if you replace an aluminum strip with a plastic piece, an unfolded metal paper clip or a toothpick?

Extra: Scientists call the way you connected your batteries in this activity "connecting batteries in series." Do you think the way you connect two batteries makes a difference in the amount of electricity you felt? Try it out by connecting the two copper electrodes to one another and attaching the two aluminum electrodes in the same way. (Note: You will need an extra strip of aluminum to do this.) Scientists call this "connecting batteries in parallel." Test both ways of connecting batteries and compare. Do you feel a difference?

Extra: Try different types of metals as electrodes for your batteries. Do you think a battery with two pennies as electrodes would generate electricity? What about a battery with a penny and a nickel ? Note that some combinations might generate electricity but the amount generated might be below your ability to feel it. Connecting two or more of these batteries might help you identify good combinations.

Extra: You used a lemon to provide the electrolyte for your battery. Do you think other vegetables or fruits would work as well? Would a potato, apple or onion battery work? Try a few from around the kitchen (with permission, of course). Does one particular fruit or vegetable outperform the others? With what you learned about how batteries generate electricity, why do you think that one type of produce made a stronger battery?

Extra : If you have an LED (light-emitting diode) available, investigate how many lemon batteries are needed to light it.

[break] Observations and results Did you feel the tingling in your fingertip?

The battery you just made has a copper and an aluminum electrode separated by electrolyte lemon juice. It will generate electricity as soon as the electricity has a path to flow from one electrode to the other. You created this path using strips of aluminum, a material that conducts electricity well.

By connecting your battery to your fingertip, you allowed the small amount of electricity it generates to run through your body. This amount of electricity can create a tingling feeling in a fingertip. Experiences will differ from person to person. Some people might only feel the bigger signal generated by connecting several batteries in a particular way. Letting the aluminum strips touch provides a very easy way for the electricity to run from one electrode to the other, so almost no electricity will travel through your body and the tingling sensation disappears. Plastic and wood do not conduct electricity well; none will be felt when using these materials as connections. Metals, on the other hand, conduct electricity well. Different combinations of metals as electrodes will influence the amount of electricity generated. Using identical metals as electrodes will not generate electricity, however.

In this activity you made a very low-voltage homemade battery. But using commercial batteries can be dangerous—and never experiment with wall outlets!

More to explore Batteries , from ExplainThatStuff! How Do Batteries Work? , from LiveScience A Battery That Makes Cents , from Science Buddies Potato Batteries: How to Turn Produce into Veggie Power! , from Science Buddies

This activity brought to you in partnership with Science Buddies

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Lemon Battery Experiment

The lemon battery experiment is a classic science project that illustrates an electrical circuit, electrolytes, the electrochemical series of metals, and oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions . The battery produces enough electricity to power an LED or other small device, but not enough to cause harm, even if you touch both electrodes. Here is how to construct a lemon battery, a look at how it works, and ways of turning the project into an experiment.

Lemon Battery Materials

You need a few basic materials for a lemon battery, which are available at a grocery store and hardware store.

Galvanized nail
Copper penny, strip, or wire
Wires or strips of aluminum foil
Alligator clips or electrical tape
An LED bulb, multimeter, digital clock, or calculator

If you don’t have a lemon, use any citrus fruit. A galvanized nail is a steel nail that is plated with zinc. The classic project uses copper and zinc because these two metals are inexpensive and readily available. However, you can use any two conductive metals, as long as they are different from each other.

Make a Lemon Battery

Gently squeeze the lemon or roll it on a table to soften it. This helps the juice flow within the fruit.
Insert the copper and zinc into the fruit. You want the maximum surface area in the juicy part of the fruit. The lemon peel helps support the metal, but if it is very thick and the metal does not reach the juice, scrape away part of the peel. Ideally, separate the metal pieces by about 2 inches (5 centimeters). Make sure the metals are not touching each other.
Connect a wire to the galvanized nail using an alligator clip or electrical tape. Repeat the process with the copper item.
Connect the free ends of the wire to an LED or other small electronic device. When you connect the second wire, the light turns on.

Increase the Power

The voltage of a lemon battery is around 1.3 V to 1.5 V, but it generates very little current. There are two easy ways of increasing the battery’s power.

Use two pennies and two copper pieces in the lemon. You don’t want any of the metal pieces within the fruit to touch. As before, connect one zinc and one copper piece to the LED. But, wire the other zinc and copper to each other.
Wire more lemons in series with each other. Insert a nail and copper piece into each nail. Connect the copper of one lemon to the zinc of the next lemon. Connect the nail at the end of the series to the LED and the copper at the end of the series to the LED. If you don’t have lots of lemons, you can cut up one lemon into pieces.

How a Lemon Battery Works

A lemon battery is similar to Volta’s first battery, except he used salt water instead of lemon juice. The zinc and copper are electrodes. The lemon juice is an electrolyte . Lemon juice contains citric acid. While both salts and acids are examples of electrolytes, acids typically do a better job in batteries.

Connecting the zinc and copper electrodes using a wire (even with an LED or multimeter between them) completes an electrical circuit. The circuit is a loop through the zinc, the wire, the copper, and the electrolyte, back to the zinc.

Zinc dissolves in lemon juice, leaving zinc ions (Zn 2+ ) in the juice, while the two electrons per atom move through the wire toward the copper. The following chemical reaction represents this oxidation reaction :

Zn → Zn 2+ + 2e −

Citric acid is a weak acid, but it partially dissociates and leaves some positively charged hydrogen ions (H + ) in the juice. The copper electrode does not dissolve. The excess electrons at the copper electrode combine with the hydrogen ions and form hydrogen gas at the copper electrode. This is a reduction reaction.

2H + + 2e − → H 2

If you perform the project using lemon juice instead of a lemon, you may observe tiny hydrogen gas bubbles forming on the copper electrode.

Try Other Fruits and Vegetables

The key for using produce in a battery is choosing a fruit of vegetable high in acid (with a low pH). Citrus fruits (lemon, orange, lime, grapefruit) contain citric acid. You don’t need a whole fruit. Orange juice and lemonade work fine. Potatoes work well because they contain phosphoric acid. Boiling potatoes before using them increases their effectiveness. Sauerkraut contains lactic acid. Vinegar works because it contains acetic acid.

Experiment Ideas

Turn the lemon battery into an experiment by applying the scientific method . Make observations about the battery, ask questions, and design experiments to test predictions or a hypothesis .

Experiment with other materials for the electrodes besides a galvanized nail and copper item. Other common metals available in everyday life include iron, steel, aluminum, tin, and silver. Try using a nickel and a penny. What do you think will happen if you use two galvanized nails and no copper, or two pennies and no nails? What happens if you try to use plastic, wood, or glass as an electrode? Can you explain your results?
If you have a multimeter, explore whether the distance between the electrodes affects the voltage and current of your circuit.
How big is the effect of adding a second lemon to the circuit? Does it change the voltage? Does it change the current?
Try making batteries using other foods from the kitchen. Predict which ones you think will work and test them. Of course, try fruits and vegetables. Also consider liquids like water, salt water, milk and juice, and condiments, like ketchup, mustard, and salsa.

The lemon battery dates back to at least 2000 years ago. Archaeologists discovered a battery in Iraq using a clay pot, lemon juice, copper, iron, and tar. Of course, people using this battery did not know about electrochemistry or even what electricity was. The use of the ancient battery is unknown.

Credit for discovery of the battery goes to Italian scientists Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta. In 1780, Luigi Galvani demonstrated copper, zinc, and frog legs (acting as an electrolyte) produced electricity. Galvani published his work in 1790. An electrochemical cell is called a galvanic cell in his honor.

Alessandro Volta proved electricity did not require an animal. He used brine-soaked paper as an electrolyte and invented the voltaic pile in 1799. A voltaic pile is a stack of galvanic cells, with each cell consisting of a metal disk, an electrolyte layer, and a disk of a different metal.

Goodisman, Jerry (2001). “Observations on Lemon Cells”. Journal of Chemical Education . 78(4): 516–518. doi: 10.1021/ed078p516
Margles, Samantha (2011). “ Does a Lemon Battery Really Work? “. Mythbusters Science Fair Book . Scholastic. ISBN 9780545237451.
Naidu, M. S.; Kamakshiaih, S. (1995). Introduction to Electrical Engineering . Tata McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN 9780074622926.
Schmidt, Hans-Jürgen; Marohn, Annette; Harrison, Allan G. (2007). “Factors that prevent learning in electrochemistry”. Journal of Research in Science Teaching . 44 (2): 258–283. doi: 10.1002/tea.20118
Swartling, Daniel J.; Morgan, Charlotte (1998). “Lemon Cells Revisited—The Lemon-Powered Calculator”. Journal of Chemical Education . 75 (2): 181–182. doi: 10.1021/ed075p181

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Want to see a cool trick? Make a tiny battery with these 3 household items

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Rebecca Ramirez

Madeline K. Sofia

Electrical circuit can be created with lemons to power a small light source. A chemical reaction between the copper and zinc plates and the citric acid produces a small current, thus powering a light bulb. Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images hide caption

We're going "Back to School" today, revisiting a classic at-home experiment that turns lemons into batteries — powerful enough to turn on a clock or a small lightbulb. But how does the science driving the "lemon battery" show up in those household batteries we use daily?

We get into just that today with environmental engineer Jenelle Fortunato about the fundamentals of electric currents and the inner workings of batteries.

You can build your very own lemon battery using Science U's design here , written by Fortunato and Christopher Gorski of Penn State College of Engineering.

A reminder: Do NOT play with household batteries. Be safe out there, scientists!

Want us to cover more science basics? Email us your ideas at [email protected] — we might feature them on a future episode!

Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave .

Listen to Short Wave on Spotify , Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts .

This episode was originally produced by Rebecca Ramirez and edited by Viet Le. The encore version was produced and edited by Rebecca Ramirez.

lemon battery
STEM education
electric currents

Scientists seek to invent a safe, reliable, and cheap battery for electricity grids

The new Aqueous Battery Consortium of Stanford, SLAC, and 13 other research institutions, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, seeks to overcome the limitations of a battery using water as its electrolyte.

How do you store electricity in a way that is large and powerful enough to support the electric grid, as well as reliable, safe, environmentally sustainable, and inexpensive? One way may be to make a major component of the rechargeable battery mostly from water and the rest of the device primarily from abundant materials.

That is the vision of dozens of the best energy storage experts from 15 research institutions across the United States and Canada, led by Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory . After a competitive process, the U.S. Department of Energy announced on Sept. 3 its support for this energy hub research project, called the Aqueous Battery Consortium. The project can receive up to $62.5 million over five years as part of the DOE’s Energy Innovation Hubs program. The other battery-centered Energy Innovation Hub announced today by the DOE is the Energy Storage Research Alliance, led by Argonne National Laboratory.

“This project will undertake the grand challenge of electrochemical energy storage in a world dependent on intermittent solar and wind power. We need affordable, grid-scale energy storage that will work dependably for a long time,” said the project’s director, Yi Cui , a Stanford professor of materials science and engineering, of energy science and engineering, and of photon science at SLAC.

A huge amount of stationary energy storage will be needed to reduce net global greenhouse gas emissions to zero, said Cui, and water is the only realistic solvent available at the quantity and cost needed for such batteries.

“How do we control charge transfer between solids and water from the molecular to the device scale and achieve reversibility with an efficiency of nearly 100 percent?” asked Cui. “We don’t know the solutions to those hard problems, but with the Department of Energy's support we intend to find out.”

A new aqueous battery

The lead-acid batteries that start combustion engines in conventional vehicles are a type of aqueous battery that has been in wide use for decades. However, for their size, lead-acid car batteries do not hold much energy, even though they can briefly supply a surge of current to start your car.

Also, the lead in them is toxic. Of all lead produced globally, 85 percent goes into lead-acid batteries. Although new batteries mostly use lead from recycled ones, in many countries the recycling process relies on techniques that pollute the environment and hurt human health. One in three children suffer from lead poisoning globally, according to a 2020 UNICEF report , with much of the suffering in developing economies.

With such catastrophes in mind, the research team prioritizes environmental justice, as well as the vision of sustainable, affordable, and secure energy for all people. “We hope our inventions may someday benefit all of humanity,” said Cui.

The new research project aims to develop a new kind of aqueous battery, one that is environmentally safe, has higher energy density than lead-acid batteries, and costs one-tenth that of lithium-ion batteries today. The group plans to keep costs for this future technology low by using cheaper raw materials, simpler electronics, and new, efficient manufacturing techniques. The pursued technology is also expected to be safer, and to create batteries that charge and discharge quickly.

However, “the barriers to such a new aqueous battery have stymied inventors for years,” said the project’s chief scientist, Linda Nazar , a professor of chemistry at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Nazar has developed new materials for energy storage and conversion for the past 20 years, including aqueous batteries. “In addition to stubbornly low voltage and energy density, water can corrode battery materials, become the source of undesirable side reactions, and the cells can fail after just hundreds of charge-discharge cycles under demanding practical conditions.”

The Aqueous Battery Consortium, which will be administered by Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy , hopes to overcome all these challenges and, in so doing, advance battery technology broadly. The team consists of 31 leading battery scientists, engineers, and physicists from 12 universities in North America, as well as from SLAC, the U.S. Army Research Lab , and the U.S. Naval Research Lab .

Project organization

The 31 co-principal investigators and the much larger number of students and postdoctoral scholars working with the investigators are organized into six teams working on broad research aims and three teams working on challenges that cut across those goals. The research Aims cover the electrolyte, both electrodes, electrolyte/electrode interface, corrosion, and overall device architecture. The three Crosscutting Theme teams will work on materials design and synthesis, coordinated theory and simulation, and characterization of prototype devices in operation.

To ensure collaboration and interdisciplinary thinking across the project, each researcher is on at least one of the six Aims teams and at least one of the Crosscutting Theme teams.

“Our ambitious goals can be met only by a well-integrated team of experts working across disciplines, who encourage each other to think from fresh angles and with novel viewpoints,” said Johanna Nelson Weker , the Aqueous Battery Consortium’s assistant director and lead scientist in SLAC's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource division.

“One of the teams I’m on includes a couple of physicists, a professor of chemistry, and a professor of mechanical engineering, among other disciplines,” said Nelson Weker, “but all the researchers in the project have done much work on energy storage.”

Regular meetings of all consortium members and participation in various scientific forums should help create a large intellectual community of energy storage researchers. The consortium’s leaders hope this community will include not just the co-principal investigators, but also the scores of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who will perform much of the research, and other battery scientists around the world. The researchers hope the Aqueous Battery Consortium will become a dynamic center for all aqueous battery research – not just its research – domestically and worldwide.

Management and oversight

The Aqueous Battery Consortium’s chief operations officer is Steve Eglash , director of the Applied Energy Division and interim chief research officer at SLAC. He is responsible for the organizational and administrative leadership of the project, including financial and personnel management, tracking and reporting research progress to the Department of Energy, environmental health and safety, and relationships with external partners.

“The Aqueous Battery Consortium is dedicated to doing the scientific research that will enable large-scale deployment of aqueous batteries," said Eglash. "The consortium will be accountable to a governance board and get external advice from two advisory boards. One will advise us on the scientific direction of our work. The other will advise us on the relevance of our work to commercial applications."

The project’s governance board will ensure institutional support and compliance. It will be led by Arun Majumdar , dean of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability , and professor of mechanical engineering, energy science and engineering, and photon science. Steven Chu , Nobel physicist and former U.S. Secretary of Energy, will helm the scientific advisory board. Chu, Stanford professor of physics, physiology, and energy science and engineering, is also one of the project’s researchers. Ira Ehrenpreis , co-founder and managing partner of the investment fund DBL Partners, will chair the technology review board. Ehrenpreis also co-chairs the Precourt Institute for Energy's advisory council.

“Also, to make sure we are doing things correctly and consistently across the project, several team members have taken on the responsibility for overseeing crucial practices. These include data management, technology transfer, environmental health and safety, and diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Eglash, who noted that five of the consortium's 12 universities are designated minority-serving institutions.

In addition to Stanford and the University of Waterloo, the other universities contributing investigators to this project are California State University, Long Beach ; Florida A&M University/Florida State University's College of Engineering ; North Carolina State University ; Oregon State University ; San Jose State University ; UCLA ; UC-San Diego ; UC-Santa Barbara ; University of Maryland ; and University of Texas at Austin .

The co-principal investigators page on this website lists all senior researchers with links to their personal profile pages.

Cui is also the director of the Sustainability Accelerator at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, the immediate past director of the Precourt Institute for Energy, current co-director of the institute’s StorageX Initiative and director of its postdoctoral program , as well as founder of a publicly traded battery company. Nazar is also a fellow of the Royal Society (Canada) and of the Royal Society (U.K.), as well as a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Solid State Energy Materials. Majumdar is also a senior fellow at the Precourt Institute and at the Hoover Institution. Ehrenpreis, an alumnus of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and Stanford Law School, is also on Tesla Motor’s board of directors. The Precourt Institute is part of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.

Media contact: Mark Golden , Communications Director, Precourt Institute for Energy and Aqueous Battery Consortium

Explore More

Department of Energy Awards $125 Million for Research to Enable Next-Generation Batteries and Energy Storage

The two Energy Innovation Hub teams, led by Stanford and Argonne National Laboratory, will emphasize multi-disciplinary fundamental research to address long-standing and emerging challenges for rechargeable batteries.

Policy, evidence and campaigns

Environmental sustainability
New GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for highest voltage from fruit battery

Lemons-aid juicy new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for the highest voltage from a fruit battery!

Royal Society of Chemistry and Professor Saiful Islam have set a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for the highest voltage from a fruit battery.

We used 2,923 lemons to generate an astonishing 2,307.8 volts, which smashed the previous world record of 1,521 volts, and launched a battery-powered go-kart race run by the Blair Project in Manchester . The electrifying feat was designed to highlight the importance of energy storage and the need for new innovations for a zero-carbon world against the backdrop of the COP26 Climate Change Summit.

“It was very exciting to regain our Guinness World Records title by squeezing the highest voltage from a fruit battery. It’s an amazing feat, but it’s still not an effective battery – the amount of electrical power would not be enough to turn on a smart television.

Related: Elements in Danger: raising awareness of the supply risks to elements in our personal devices

“Batteries have a vital role to play in reducing carbon emissions – and have come a long way with modern lithium batteries helping to power the revolution in portable electronics and mobile phones.

“If we are serious about reaching net zero carbon status we need better batteries – to power more electric vehicles and to store the energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar.

"It’s an exciting time to be a scientist in general and a chemical scientist in particular – as scientific research is crucial to understand how batteries work and to discover new materials that will give us technologies that can store more energy, are safer and recharge faster.

“We also have to be able to recycle and reuse these batteries effectively to enable a truly sustainable energy future.”

Professor Saiful Islam, RSC trustee, professor of materials chemistry at the University of Bath and expert panel member of the Faraday Institution

After all that zest

Following the record attempt, the used lemons were responsibly processed by Refood in Widnes , who generate renewable energy from food waste using the anaerobic digestion method (similar to an industrial-scale compost heap) to produce biogas. After further refinement the biogas is pumped directly into the National Gas Grid. Any remaining liquid is transformed into bio-fertiliser for local farming and agricultural use.

Listen to our award winning podcasts covering many aspects of sustainability
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Lemon Battery

Activity length, chemical reactions electricity, activity type, discrepant event (investigatable).

You can make a battery using a piece of fruit?

Yes , technically, but not a very strong one!

The source of electric energy in this demonstration is the combination of copper and zinc strips in the citric acid of the lemon.

The citric acid of the lemon reacts with the zinc and loosens electrons. Copper pulls electrons more strongly than zinc, so loose electrons will move towards the copper when the electrodes are connected by wires. Moving electrons are called an electric current, which is what lights up the bulb.

Teacher Tip: This is a classic electricity activity, but it can be very frustrating if you don't have the right equipment. 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

Per Class: multimeter or voltmeter (optional)

Key Questions

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? Why?
Is water a good conductor of electrical current? Is salt a good conductor of electrical current? How do you know?
Roll the lemon firmly on a counter to release some of the juices.
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

Hint: If you’re using an LED, it will only light if it’s connected in the right direction. Try switching direction.
Hint: Don’t try to test your LED by hooking it up to a commercial battery. A commercial battery will be too powerful and will wreck the LED.
Use the voltmeter or multimeter to check the voltage between the two electrodes. It will probably be less than 1 volt! That’s not enough to light the LED, which needs about 2 volts. Join together in groups of three or four lemons. Connect the lemons together in series (connect copper to zinc together with wire) and attach the ends to ONE bulb. Use the voltmeter to check the voltage between the free wires at the ends of the series.

Teacher Tip: The voltage will be extremely weak. You may need at least 3 lemons per battery for any visible movement to occur on the voltometer.

Experiment with other fruits (e.g. oranges, grapefruits, apples, peaches, pears). Which ones produce the highest voltage? Why?
Experiment with replacing the electrodes with two copper strips or two zinc strips and try to light the bulb. Measure the voltage and explain the results.
Experiment with replacing the electrodes with different metals (e.g. iron and magnesium). Which combinations of electrodes give the highest voltage?

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Educational Learning Materials for Parents and Teachers

Simple Lemon Battery

July 31, 2022 by Michelle Leave a Comment

A lemon battery is one of those widely known experiments that every child should probably do once as they learn about electricity. Honestly, though, it was not one that I was planning to do with my kids. However, my 12-year-old is currently taking the class Batteries are Weird online from the company, Science is Weird (not affiliated, just a fan). After attending class over Zoom last week, he was motivated to try this experiment on his own. We had just gotten a bag of lemons from Costco, so I said go for it!

He spent about 30 minutes working on it by himself using copper pennies and nails, but was still having some trouble. Seeing him working so hard, I got involved and decided to document the process. Hopefully, you can use what we learned to ensure success when you attempt this experiment with your own kids!

How Does It Work

I was actually surprised by how hard it was to figure out exactly how a lemon battery worked! There is a lot of conflicting and inaccurate information on the internet, but I found this document from the American Chemical Society to be the most helpful. It is easy to understand, detailed, and backed up by several other reputable sources.

The main information that I would want my child to know is that there are two sides to a battery. One side is called the cathode and that is the side that pulls electrons from the wire. The other side is the anode and that is the side that gives electrons to the wire. In my son’s Science is Weird class, the teacher used the metaphor of two women, Annie and Cathy, who were a giver and a taker. Annie would give you a kidney if you needed one. Cathy would take your kidney even if she already had two good ones. It would be really handy to remember if the cathode (the mean taker) was the negative side of the battery and the anode (the happy giver) was the positive side, but alas the opposite is true. For older children, if they remember Annie and Cathy, they can just remember that electrons, which are negatively charged, flow toward the positive side, so the cathode is positive.

Next, I would want them to know how these two sides of the battery can be used to power a device. First, they need to understand that electrons, which are negatively charged particles, will flow from the negative side to the positive side. This makes sense because the anode is giving electrons and the cathode is taking them. Because the electrons are flowing through the wire, electricity, which is essentially just moving electrons, is being produced. This electricity can be used to power a low-power device such as a small LED, a hand calculator, or a kitchen timer.

If you wanted to explain this even a step further, you could ask the question WHY is the anode the giver and the cathode the taker? This is due to the chemistry that happens inside the electrolyte, the electrically conductive substance that transports ions near the anode and the cathode. In our case, the electrolyte is lemon juice. The chemistry that is happening at the anode is that the lemon juice is dissolving the zinc off of the nail, which releases positively charged zinc ions into the juice and frees up electrons to travel through the wire. The chemistry that is happening at the cathode is that the electrons being collected from the wire are combined with positively charged hydrogen ions that the copper is pulling from the lemon juice. We didn’t see it, but this reaction produces hydrogen gas causing bubbles within the lemon juice. The anode is giving zinc ions to the electrolyte and giving electrons to the wire. The cathode is taking hydrogen ions from the electrolyte and taking electrons from the wire.

Troubleshooting Tips

My son read online that each lemon battery should produce about 0.7 Volts, so he calculated that he would need 3 lemons to produce the 2 V required for his LED. However, we found that when he was using pennies, the voltage they produced was inconsistent. I theorized that maybe since modern pennies are only coated in copper and not copper all the way through, imperfections in the surface such as nicks and scratches might be interfering with his results. To fix this we went to the hardware store and got 1 foot of copper wire. I believe it was gauge 8 AWG, but the thickness is not super important. The store was kind enough to strip off the plastic insulation for us and cut it into 4 pieces, though we could have done that at home using an exact-o knife and wire cutters. They also ended up giving it to us for free. These 4 pieces of copper were used as our cathodes, the positive end of our batteries that collects the electrons.

If I were to go back and do this experiment again, I probably would have cut a couple more pieces of copper wire giving us 5 or 6 cathodes instead of just 4. This would have allowed us to add more lemons to our battery circuit, which would have produced more voltage and would have caused our LED to light up even brighter than it did. As it was, with 4 batteries, it lit up, but it did not achieve full brightness.

Another suggestion if your battery is not working is to make sure that you roll the lemons to break up the little pouches of lemon juice inside it. The more juice is freed, the better able the lemon will be to dissolve the zinc off of the nail, freeing up more electrons. We used the galvanized nails we happened to have on hand, but bigger nails might produce a bigger voltage because they would have a larger surface area to dissolve zinc. This would allow our anode, the negative end of our battery, to provide even more electrons to the cathode.

Simple Lemon Battery Details

Recommended Age Range: Elementary Time Required: about 15 minutes Difficulty: Easy Cost: Less than $7 in used supplies

lemons (We used 4, but I recommend having 5 or 6 on hand.)
galvanized nails (You need as many nails as you have lemons. We used 1.5″ nails we had on hand, but any outdoor nails will work. Bigger nails might actually work better.)
copper wire (You need as many pieces as you have lemons, we used about 2.5″ pieces, but the length is not important. Again, I recommend having at least 5 or 6.)
alligator clips (you need one more alligator clip than the number of lemons)
an led (or something to power…any device you have, such as a simple calculator or timer, that uses one AA or AAA battery will work)
a voltmeter (optional, but it will let you measure how much voltage each lemon battery and the entire circuit is producing.)

Instructions

First, roll all of your lemons on the counter underneath your palm to free up the juice inside. The juice acts as the electrolyte that conducts electricity through the lemon.

Have fun being an electrical engineer!

Let’s Connect

Reader Interactions

What is a Lemon Battery?

A lemon battery is a simple battery made using a zinc metal like a galvanized nail and a copper piece like a penny for educational purposes. These are inserted into a lemon and are connected by wires. The zinc and copper are called electrodes and lemon juice is an electrolyte.

How To Make A Lemon Battery?

The lemon battery experiment listed here is similar to the experiment of the first electrical battery, invented by Alessandro Volta in the year 1800, where he used a brine solution. Listed below is a methodical explanation of the experiment.

The functioning of a Lemon Battery

Things you will need:

Citrus fruits (Lemon will be best)
Copper wire of 18 gauge or lesser
Wire-cutter/stripper
A Zinc piece, small nail, Steel clips as an electrical conductor
Strip around two and a half inches of plastic off the wire and cut that section away from the roll of copper wire you have.
Take the paper clip and straighten it out. Using the clippers cut it to the same length as the wire of copper.
Rub off any of the rough spots that are on your conductors. The end of the wire must be smooth as you will touch that to your tongue.
The lemon needs to be pressed so that its cell walls breakdown and the juice is released. For the chemical reaction to take place the sour juices of lemon should be properly released.
Take the copper wire and stick it for about an inch inside the lemon.
Take the two free ends and stick them to your tongue. What do you notice?

You may also want to check out these topics given below!

Magnetic Levitation Project
How to make a potato clock?

What happens in a Lemon Battery?

When both the ends of the conductors touch the tongue of the person, he/she feels a slight tingle which was a small amount of current generated by the lemon. Your tongue feels the electrons moving through it. Electrons are the particles that revolve around the center of an electron and make up the portion that holds the negative charge.

The battery that we created is termed as a voltaic battery. This sort of battery is created out of two varying metals that do the work of electrodes or points of transfer for electrons. The salt present in your saliva makes it a conductor and the citric acid present in the sour lemon juice does the same in making electricity easy to flow.

What is an Electric Cell?

Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs

What is a lemon battery, what is current electricity, define voltage., what is an electric cell, what happens to current when voltage is increased.

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Construction and Evaluation of Electrical Properties of a Lemon Battery

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Abstract and Figures
Public Full-text

JCBPS; Section C; February 2018 – April - 2018, Vol. 8, No. 2; 092-101, E- ISSN: 2249 –1929 [DOI: 10.24214/jcbps.C.8.2.09201.]

Journal of Chemical, Biological and Physical Sciences

An International Peer Review E-3 Journal of Sciences Available online atwww.jcbsc.org

Section C: Physical Sciences

CODEN (USA): JCBPAT Research Article

Construction and evaluation of electrical properties of a lemon battery

Jakia Sultana, Komor-E-Jahan Dola, Sayed Al Mahmud, Md. Anisur Rahman Mazumder

Department of Food Technology and Rural Industries, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh- 2202, Bangladesh

Received: 18 March 2018; Revised: 11 April 2018; Accepted: 18 April 2018

Abstract: The objective of the research was to develop a lemon battery and determine the electrical properties of lemon battery. The main hypothesis of the research work was to determine whether lemon can produce electricity or not. Lemon has a voltaic cell which changes chemical energy into electrical energy. By a series circuit, conductor ( copper ) inserted into lemon to generate voltage . Three varieties of lemon such as Kagoji, Sarboti and Elachi were used for the experiments. Elachi could produce maximum 1.0±0.1 v voltage and 1.25±0.05 mA electricity. Overall, the electricity production was very low due to low amount of citric acid in the lemons . However, lemon could produce minimum electricity which might be used in the Light emitting diode (LED). Keywords: Lemon, battery, voltage, electricity

INTRODUCTION

Citrus fruits belong to the Rutaceae family which are acidic and contain a healthy nutritional content. According to Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), approximately 40-60% of citrus production 92 J. Chem. Bio. Phy. Sci. Sec. C, February 2018 – April - 2018, Vol. 8, No. 2; 092-101 [DOI: 10.24214/jcbps.C.8.2.09201.]

Construction… Jakia Sultana et al. processes for juice production of which 50-60% ends up as wastage. The global citrus waste production was 15-25 million tons a year. Citrus waste creates problem to the environment, thus a sustainable handling of citrus waste is desirable1. Bio electricity generation is reported from waste water using a microbial fuel cell2-4. Lemon, orange and grapefruit are examples of biomass and commonly known as citrus fruit5. They contain citric acid, sugar and other ingredients with sufficient chemical energy that can be converted into electrical energy by means of redox reaction with a specific condition and thus be utilized as batteries to light up light emitting diode (LED) and power up clock or calculator etc6-7. Batteries are containers that store chemical energy, which can be converted to electrical energy or what we called electricity. They depend on electro- chemical reaction to do this. The reaction typically occurs between two pieces of metal called electrodes and a liquid or paste called electrolyte . It is found that the citric acid contained in citrus fruit may act as an electrolyte, which enables the generation of electricity just the same way as a galvanic battery8. There are many variations of the lemon cell that use different fruits or liquids as electrolytes and metals other than zinc and copper as electrodes. A lemon battery is the simplest form of battery. Typically a piece of zinc metal and a copper piece is inserted into the lemon cell and connected by wires. Power generated by reaction of metals is used to power some devices like light emitting diode (LED), digital watch, mobile phone etc. The lemon battery is similar to the first electrical battery invented in 1800 by Alessandro Volta , who used brine (salt water) instead of lemon juice. The lemon battery illustrates the same type of chemical reaction (oxidation-reduction) that occurs in batteries. The zinc and copper are called the electrodes and the juice in the lemon is called the electrolyte. The Fruit is made up of a mixture of chemicals that is called an electrolyte. An electrolyte allows charges to flow. An electrode is the part of a cell through which charges enter or exit. Each cell has a pair of electrodes from conducting materials. There are chemical changes between both the electrodes and the electrolytes. These changes convert the chemical energy to electrical energy. There are two kinds of cells in electricity. There are wet cells and dry cells. Wet cells are liquid cells like the cells in a car battery. A lemon also has wet cells which is a reason why it acts like a battery and is able to produce voltage. A lemon is able to convert to a wet cell when copper and zinc are put into it. Keeping these views into consideration the study was carried out to observe citrus fruit such as lemon as an alternative way to power a light bulb and was to determine the electrical properties such as current, voltage of a lemon battery.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Electrolyte: An electrolyte is a substance that produces an electrically conducting solution when dissolves in a polar solvent. The dissolve electrolyte separates into cations and anions which disperse uniformly through the solvent. Electrically such solutions are neutral. Three (3) most common varieties of lemon such as Kagoji, Sarboti and Elachi which are available in Bangladesh were used for the experiment to serve as electrolyte due to the citric acid of its. Pieces of zinc sheet metal (annode): In a battery the anode is the negative electrode from which electrons flow out towards the external part of the circuit. The pieces of zinc sheet metal used as the anode.

93 J. Chem. Bio. Phy. Sci. Sec. C, February 2018 – April - 2018, Vol. 8, No. 2; 092-101 [DOI: 10.24214/jcbps.C.8.2.09201.]

Construction… Jakia Sultana et al.

Pieces of copper sheet metal (cathode): In a battery the cathode is the positive terminal from which the current flows out of the device. This outward current is carried internally by positive ions moving from the electrolyte to the positive cathode. Multi-Meter (Max Electricity: 99 A, Max Voltage: 999 V): A multi-meter is a digital meter that measures multiple things. It acts like a bunch of different meters put together into one meter. A multi- meter can be used for different purposes. It carries an ammeter, a voltmeter and even a thermometer. An ammeter measures the amount of electrical current that flows through a circuit. To measure current, an ammeter is connected in series with the current. This is so that the ammeter can measure all of the current. The greater the current in the circuit the higher the numbers are on the multi-meter. The multi-meter also carries a voltmeter. A voltmeter is a meter that measures the amount of voltage in a circuit. To measure the amount of voltage in a circuit, the voltmeter is connected parallel to the circuit. It is connected like this so almost no current flows through it. The more volts that the circuit produces, the higher the numbers are on the multi-meter. The multi-meter also carries a thermometer. A thermometer is a meter which measures the temperature. It measures how hot or cold something is. A thermometer measures the temperature of anything. The hotter the temperatures, the higher the numbers are on the multi-meter.

Single cell lemon battery: The preparation of single cell lemon battery was shown in the flow diagram 1.

Piece of copper (plate) was inserted into the one side of lemon

Galvanized nail(zinc) was inserted into the other side of lemon

Wires attached (metal) with copper plate (cathode) and zinc plate (anode)

The wire connected with a multi-meter

The reading were measured from the multi-meter

Reading was positive, connected to an electrical device

Flow chart 1: Lemon battery construction

A sheet of copper plate, a zinc plate, lemon, wires and multi-meter was used to prepare single cell battery. The copper plate and zinc plate were rinsed with a light detergent. The lemon was rolled on a table, applying a small amount of downward pressure. The squeezing action released the juices inside the lemon 94 J. Chem. Bio. Phy. Sci. Sec. C, February 2018 – April - 2018, Vol. 8, No. 2; 092-101 [DOI: 10.24214/jcbps.C.8.2.09201.]

Construction… Jakia Sultana et al. needed for the battery to work. The acidity of the juice in a lemon makes it ideal for this sort of chemical reaction. It contains the solution of molecules necessary to carry electric current between the two metal ends of a battery. The slit was needed to be large enough to insert the copper plate about halfway into the lemon. The copper plate was fitted nicely into the slit that have already made. The zinc plate was to be pushed into the lemon about 2 cm away from the copper plate. These items served as the positive and negative ends of the battery. The metals were close to each other in order for the necessary chemical reaction to take place. Using the end clips of the multi-meter, one clip to the copper plate and the other clip to the zinc plate was attached. A small increase in voltage was shown on the multi-meter.

Multi cell lemon battery: In this case, multiple lemon battery was linked together (Figure 1 & 2).

Figure 1: Series connection of lemon battery

A sheet of copper plate, a zinc plate, a lemon (12 nos.), a knife, several wires and multi-meter was to be taken to make a lemon battery. Many lemons were linked together to increase the voltage but not the current. The lemon was rolled on a table, applying a small amount of downward pressure. The squeezing action released the juices inside the lemon needed for the battery to work. Copper-wrapped plate and zinc plate was to be made. A bit of wire was taken and wrapped for a few times around the copper plate and then took the other end and wrapped it around the top of the zinc plate. The copper plate and zinc plate were inserted into separate lemons. The wire was wrapped tightly around each piece. The battery began with a single copper-wrapped plate and end with a single copper-wrapped zinc plate. A piece of wire was to be taken and wrapped it a few times. The wire was wrapped tightly around each piece to make good connections. The slit was large enough to insert the copper plate about half way into the lemon. The copper plate needs to stay firmly in place so make sure the slit isn’t too large. Twelve (12) lemons were lined up and choose one to be the first and one to be the last.

95 J. Chem. Bio. Phy. Sci. Sec. C, February 2018 – April - 2018, Vol. 8, No. 2; 092-101 [DOI: 10.24214/jcbps.C.8.2.09201.]

Figure 2: Circuit diagram of lemon battery

The copper-wrapped plate was stuck into the slit that could be cut into the top of the first lemon in the chain. The copper-wrapped zinc plate was inserted into the last lemon in the chain. Each lemon ultimately had one copper plate and one zinc plate stuck out of it. The first lemon in the chain already had a copper plate, the zinc plate was stuck the end of a pair into the first lemon. The second lemon was getting the copper plate from that pair. The second lemon was also getting the nail from the second pair of copper-wrapped plate and zinc plate. Using the end clips of the multi-meter, one clip to the copper wire was attached to the zinc plate and the other clip to the copper wire attached to the copper plate. An increase in the voltage reading was shown on the multi-meter.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Generally, lemon juice contains 5–8% citric acid (Daniel and Charlotte, 1998) and it was the major species undergoing reaction. Overall, the lemon probably produced the most voltage because it has a higher acidity than other citrus fruits. The more the acid in a fruit, the more voltage it produces. Citric acid in a fruit acts like the acid in a battery so the fruit could produce voltage. Three varieties of lemon named Kagoji, Sarbati and Elachi were taken for the experiment. Electrical properties such as-voltage and electricity were measured. The citric acid content of the three varieties of lemon was shown in Figure 3. Effect of lemon varieties on voltage production: Three different varieties of lemon such as Kagoji, Sarbati and Elachi produced minimum amount of voltage which was not sufficient to run any device (Figure 4). However, the average size of a lemon was 37±0.5 g, 89±1.0 g and 130±1.5 g, respectively. The verification in voltage production might be due to the variation in the citric acid. The voltage production depended markedly on the electrode materials.

96 J. Chem. Bio. Phy. Sci. Sec. C, February 2018 – April - 2018, Vol. 8, No. 2; 092-101 [DOI: 10.24214/jcbps.C.8.2.09201.]

Figure 3: Effect of lemon varieties on the citric acid content of lemon. Bars represent standard deviation

Figure 4: Effect of lemon varieties on voltage production. Bars represent standard deviation

Effect of lemon varieties on electricity production: One (1) Piece of Kagoji, Sarbati and Elachi produced 1.15±0.05 mA, 1.20±0.1 mA and 1.25±0.05 mA, respectively (Figure 5). There was no significant difference among three varieties of lemon though Elachi produced the highest amount of electricity. However, the electricity produced by all of the varieties was not enough to run high power devices.

97 J. Chem. Bio. Phy. Sci. Sec. C, February 2018 – April - 2018, Vol. 8, No. 2; 092-101 [DOI: 10.24214/jcbps.C.8.2.09201.]

Figure 5: Effect of lemon varieties on electricity production. Bars represent standard deviation

Relationship between lemon varieties and voltage production in a series connection: To observe the more significant effect of lemons on voltage and electricity production, lemons were connected in series to power LED (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Series connection of lemon batteries with LED

98 J. Chem. Bio. Phy. Sci. Sec. C, February 2018 – April - 2018, Vol. 8, No. 2; 092-101 [DOI: 10.24214/jcbps.C.8.2.09201.]

The series connection increased the voltage available to devices. Twelve (12) lemons in series connection could be power to a white LED light. The voltage produced from the series connection was 11.9±0.05 v (Figure 7). It was noted that this lemon battery could create enough electrical current to run an LED. Connecting a series of lemons could produce more voltage to run small devices.

Figure 7: Relationship between lemon numbers and voltage production. Bars represent standard deviation

Mechanism and working principal reaction: The cell is providing an electric current through an external circuit, the metallic zinc on the surface of the zinc electrode is dissolved into the solution. Zinc atoms dissolve into the liquid electrolyte as electrically charged ions (Zn2+), leaving 2 negatively charged electrons (e−) behind in the metal: 푍푛 → 푍푛2+ + 2e- [1] This reaction is called oxidation. While zinc is entering the electrolyte, two positively charged hydrogen ions (H+) from the electrolyte combine with two electrons at the copper electrode's surface and form an uncharged hydrogen molecule (H2):

+ − 2H + 2e → H2 [2] This reaction is called reduction. The electrons used for the copper to form the molecules of hydrogen are transferred by an external wire connected to the zinc. The hydrogen molecules formed on the surface of the copper by the reduction reaction ultimately bubble away as hydrogen gas. Figure 8 showed the probable atomic model for the chemical reactions. Zinc atoms enter the electrolyte as ions missing two electrons (Zn2+). Two negatively charged electrons from the dissolved zinc atom are left in the zinc metal. Two of the dissolved protons (H+) in the acidic electrolyte combine with each other and two electrons to form molecular hydrogen H2, which bubbles off of the copper electrode. The 99 J. Chem. Bio. Phy. Sci. Sec. C, February 2018 – April - 2018, Vol. 8, No. 2; 092-101 [DOI: 10.24214/jcbps.C.8.2.09201.]

Construction… Jakia Sultana et al. electrons lost from the copper are made up by moving two electrons from the zinc through the external wire.

Figure 8: Probable atomic model for chemical reaction in lemon cell for the construction of a lemon battery

There was a chemical reaction between the steel in the zinc plate and the lemon juice. There was also a chemical reaction between the copper plate and the lemon juice. These two chemical reactions pushed electrons through the wire. The amount of voltage produced by one (1) lemon was not strong enough to power up devices. At least four (4) lemons were needed to power an LED bulb. Using twelve (12) lemons in series connection were enough to power a white LED light. This result will be important to people when their power goes out and they can use some lemons to power a light bulb for light. By multiplying the average electricity of a lemon (1 mA) by the average (lowest) voltage (potential difference) of a lemon (0.7 V) it can be concluded that it would take more than 100 lemons to run a mobile phone.

100 J. Chem. Bio. Phy. Sci. Sec. C, February 2018 – April - 2018, Vol. 8, No. 2; 092-101 [DOI: 10.24214/jcbps.C.8.2.09201.]

1. R. Wikandari, R. Millati, M.N. Cahyanto, M.J. Taherzadeh, Biogas production from citrus waste by membrane bioreactor. Membrane. 2014, 4, 596-607. 2. A.M. Khan, Electricity generation by microbial fuel cells. Adv. Natur. App. Sci. 2009, 3 (2), 279- 286. 3. A.M. Khan, Generation of electricity by the aerobic fermentation of domestic waste water. J. Chem. Soc. Pak. 2010, 32 (2), 209-214. 4. A.M. Khan, Correlation of COD and BOD of domestic waste water with the power output of bioreactor. J. Chem. Soc. Pak. 2010, 32 (2), 269-274. 5. M.A. Randhawa, A. Rashid, M. Saeed, M.S. Javed, A.A. Khan and M.W. Sajid, Characterization of organic acids in juices of some Pakistani citrus species and their retention during refrigerated storage. J. Ani. Plant Sci. 2014, 24(1), 211-214. 6. P.B. Kelter, J.D. Carr, T. Johnson, C.M. Castro-Acuna, Citrus spp.: orange, mandarin, tangerine, clementine, grapefruit, pomelo, lemon and lime. J. Chem. Edu. 1996, 73 (12), 1123-1127. 7. J. Goodisman, Observation on lemon cells. J. Chem. Edu. 2001, 78 (4), 516-518. 8. H.L. Oon, A simple electric cell, chemistry expression: An inquary approach. Panpac education Pvt. Ltd. Singapore, 236-250.

Corresponding author: Md. Anisur Rahman Mazumder Department of Food Technology and Rural Industries, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh Email: [email protected] Online publication date: 18.4.2018

101 J. Chem. Bio. Phy. Sci. Sec. C, February 2018 – April - 2018, Vol. 8, No. 2; 092-101 [DOI: 10.24214/jcbps.C.8.2.09201.]

Lemon_battery

For Teachers

Everyday Activities
Experiments

Lemon Batteries

Can you get power from a lemon?

Batteries consist of two different metals suspended in an acidic solution.

Is it possible to use the acid in a lemon to power a light? Try it to find out!

Watch the video on YouTube: QYZE-SrpoJ4

You Will Need

4 or more large, fresh, juicy lemons or other citrus fruits

A kitchen knife

4 or more zinc electrodes You can find galvanized washers or roofing nails at most hardware stores, or you can purchase either zinc or magnesium wire online

4 copper electrodes Copper-coated pennies work, or you can find bare copper wire or copper plumbing fittings at most hardware stores

1 light-emitting diode (LED) component We recommend a red LED because they typically need lower voltages to glow than other colors, but many colors will work. The best LEDs for this experiment are designed to glow with a low current such as this set from Amazon , or you can purchase a lesser quantity from Mouser electronics .

6 or more lead wires with alligator clips. Such as this set available on Amazon

Multimeter (optional)

Materials & Directions PDF

NOTE: Some retailers also sell lemon battery kits that can include a buzzer or a low voltage clock. These instructions assume you are using your lemon battery to make an LED glow.

Ask your scientist to create a testable question.
Carefully clean your zinc and copper electrodes to remove any dirt or grease. (Careful not to scrub all of the zinc coating off the galvanized washers or nails.)
Roll one lemon on a hard surface while pushing down to break the cell walls and loosen up the juice inside. The sour (acidic) juice is needed for the chemical reaction that you are about to start.
Place the lemon on its side on a plate and have an adult carefully use the kitchen knife to make a 2 small cuts in the top of the lemon. Make each cut about two centimeters long, one centimeter deep, and about 0.5-1 centimeters apart. (To conserve lemons, you can cut 1 lemon in half, and put the electrodes in either the cut side or the rind side.)
Insert one zinc electrode deep into one of the cuts, and one copper electrode deep into the other. Leave some sticking out so you can connect your wires to them. You have now made a lemon cell!

Set the multimeter to measure DC voltage (V with a straight line). If it has scale options, set it to measure 2000 millivolts (2000m).
Hook two alligator clips from your leads to the two electrodes. Attach red lead of the multimeter (+) to the copper electrode, and the black lead of the multimeter (-) to the zinc electrode.
Measure the voltage from your lemon cell. The average lemon cell should read about 0.9–1.0 volts.
Now set the multimeter to measure current (A with a squiggly line: mÃ/Ã). If it has scale options, set it to measure 1–20mÃ.
Measure the current of your lemon cell. It should read a few tenths of a milliampere. Some multimeters are not sensitive enough to measure currents less than one milliampere, in which case you will see 0.0 as the reading.
A red LED typically needs a voltage of 1.2–1.6 V, so we need more power to light the bulb.
Follow steps 3-5 to make 3 or 4 more lemon cells.
(Optional) If you have a multimeter, check each lemon battery to make sure it generates voltage and current.
Connect the zinc electrode on the first lemon to the copper electrode on the second lemon.
Connect the zinc electrode on the second lemon to the copper electrode on the third lemon.
Repeat if using more lemons. This type of connection is called a series circuit , and provides one path through which electricity can flow.
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! If it isn’t, see the troubleshooting tips below.

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, during the experiment, after the experiment, how it works.

Electrochemical cells, also called batteries, require three things—two electrodes and one electrolyte. One of the electrodes has to have a stronger desire for electrons than the other—in chemistry we say that it has a higher electronegativity . The electrode that wants the electrons more is called the cathode , and the one that gives up electrons is electropositive and is called the anode .

Copper likes having electrons more than zinc so it’s more electronegative and is the cathode, leaving zinc to be the anode. An electrolyte is a solution that conducts electricity. The lemon provides citric acid, and acids contain ions which conduct electricity, making the lemon our electrolyte .

When zinc is exposed to the acid in the lemon juice, the acid oxidizes—or removes electrons from the zinc. The resulting positively charged zinc ions move into the lemon juice, and the resulting electrons collect in the zinc metal. They then rush across the wire into the copper which wants electrons more than zinc. Those electrons, now in the copper, pull a couple of protons or hydrogen ions out of the acid and reduce them, adding electrons, which creates hydrogen gas. If we could see inside the lemon, we might be able to see very very tiny bubbles of hydrogen gas forming on the copper electrode. In summary, the electricity is not coming from the lemon by itself, but from the chemical reaction resulting from the differences in electronegativities between zinc and copper.

Source: Dr. Christopher Gorski and Jenelle Fortunato, Penn State College of Engineering

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Science project, how to make a lemon battery.

Has your flashlight ever stopped working because the batteries were dead? It’s no fun walking around in complete darkness. Batteries are everywhere—in 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.

How does a battery work?

A lemon, or other citrus fruit
18 (or smaller) gauge copper wire
Wire stripper/clipper
A grown-up or older friend
Steel paper clip, small galvanized nail (one that is covered in zinc), or a piece of zinc (ideal)
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.
Carefully straighten the steel paper clip. Use the wire clippers to cut it to the same length as your copper wire.
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.
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?
Carefully stick the copper wire about 1 inch into the lemon.
Make sure your tongue is moist with saliva , or spit. Touch your tongue to the copper wire. Do you notice anything?
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 don’t 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.

Lemon Battery with Zinc and Copper Diodes

This time, touch your moistened tongue to both wire ends. What do you notice?

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.

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 atom’s 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 slot’s 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?

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Lemon Battery Science Experiment

We love building circuits around here. From our very first Circuit Bugs creation to Potato Batteries , we have had a lot of fun over the years experimenting with low voltage experiments and electricity in our elementary science lessons. With summer here, that means lemons and lemonade. It also means it was time for us to create the favourite lemon battery science experiment.

How to Build a Lemon Battery

What you will discover in this article!

Learn all about electricity, batteries, power and more by building a Lemon Battery in this science experiment

Disclaimer: This article may contain commission or affiliate links. As an Amazon Influencer I earn from qualifying purchases. Not seeing our videos? Turn off any adblockers to ensure our video feed can be seen. Or visit our YouTube channel to see if the video has been uploaded there. We are slowly uploading our archives. Thanks!

We often talk around here about the energy in nature and in everything around us. When we can power a light bulb with that energy it suddenly makes it very real for my kids. That energy isn’t just some crazy weird thing that I babble on about, it is this very real power that is showing itself right in front of them.

Normally our circuits are powered by batteries, but one day I convinced the kids we could power a light bulb with nothing but a potato. You should have seen the looks on their faces! Serious side eye was thrown my way.

Then, once they stopped straining their eyeballs, we built a potato battery and it worked! These kinds of science experiments for kids really stick with them. Why? Because it makes things real that they can’t otherwise see. Like the energy in our food.

Plus, when a child starts a science experiment with serious doubts, yet still achieves success, it powers up their curiosity!

So when we went grocery shopping and there was a huge pile of fresh, juicy looking lemons on display the kids asked to buy some for lemonade, but I knew we had another science experiment in our future.

Note: These food based battery experiments produce low voltage and are safe for older, responsible children to do under adult supervision.

How to Build a Lemon Battery Video

Watch as I go through the whole experiment step by step in our video tutorial. If you can’t see the video, please turn off your adblockers as they also block our video feed. Alternatively, you can also find this video on the STEAM Powered Family YouTube Channel .

Lemon Battery Materials

Lemons! You need at least 4 to create enough energy, but why not grab extras and experiment? Copper anode strip plates Zinc anode strip plates Alligator clips with wires (2 per cell, so minimum 8 if you are creating a 4 cell battery) LED light diodes Multimeter Knife and cutting board

Copper and Zinc plates are invaluable in our science experiments, but if you don’t have them, you can use copper pennies (the older the better) and zinc plated (aka galvanized) nails. Copper wire can also be used, and a search of your local hardware store is likely to produce other copper and zinc items you could test in your experiment.

The first step is to roll the lemons. Just like you would if you were about to eat or juice them. This releases the juices inside and we want our lemons as juicy as possible.

Start with one lemon and make a small cut through the peel on either end. It is very important that you place these far enough apart that the electrodes don’t touch.

Insert a copper plate on one side and a zinc plate on the other side.

Now using your multimeter test your energy levels.

We have energy!

Creating electricity from lemons to power a light bulb in this lemon battery science experiment

Now it is time to start adding more cells (lemons) to our battery.

Repeat the above steps on a second lemon. Once you are finished use an alligator clip to connect the zinc plate on the first lemon to the copper plate on the second lemon.

Test your energy level with 2 cells (you will test by touching the copper plate on the first lemon and zinc on the second). Remember you are completing the circuit.

Now repeat the steps to add a third and fourth cell.

At 4 cells we are now registering more energy than 2 AA batteries, which we tested in our Potato Cell experiment .

Lemon battery producing more volts than 2 AA batteries, enough to use lemons to light up a light bulb

Now it is time to hook up our light bulb!

Voila! Light!

How to build a battery to power a light bulb using lemons

The goal of making a lemon battery is to turn chemical energy into electrical energy, creating enough electricity to power a small LED light. You can also use limes, oranges, potatoes , pumpkins/squash , or other acidic foods.

How A Lemon Battery Works

How does a lemon battery work? The science behind how food can power a light bulb is really fascinating. Food has energy. With a lemon battery we are capturing that energy and using it to light up a LED. To do this we need electrodes to capture the energy from our electrolyte.

The zinc and copper plates are called electrodes, and the lemon juice is our electrolyte.

All batteries have a “+” (known as the cAll batteries have a “+” (known as the cathode) and a “-” (known as the anode) terminal. In our lemon battery, the copper plate is our positive cathode and the zinc plate the negative anode. The zinc metal (our negative anode) reacts with the acidic lemon juice (mostly from citric acid) to produce zinc ions (Zn2+) and electrons (2 e-).

Electric current is created by the flow of atomic particles called electrons. Conductors are materials that allow electrons (and the electrical current) to flow through them. Electrons flow from the negative to the positive terminal.

So in our experiment electrons are flowing from our zinc plate, through the lemon juice to the copper plate. From there it goes into our alligator clip, along the wire, into the zinc plate on the next lemon, where it picks up more energy as it travels through that cell. It continues on, building energy with each additional cell we add. Until finally we have enough voltage to power a light bulb.

Volts (or voltage) is a measurement of the force moving the electrons through our lemon battery. The higher the voltage the more power the battery has, but higher voltage also means greater danger. Always remember to be careful and safe around electricity. Thankfully our lemon battery is very low voltage.

Lemon Battery science experiment teaches elementary students about electricity, electrons, conductors, electrodes, electrolytes, volts and more.

Troubleshooting

There are a number of things that can cause issues with your Lemon Battery.

First, make sure none of your electrodes are touching anything other that lemon and alligator clips. Also, ensure your alligator clips are placed near the peel of the lemon.

Did you roll your lemons? You want them juicy for this experiment to work.

Did you mix up any of your connections? Remember you always want to link “+” to “-“. On an standard LED light bulb the longer pin is the positive connection.

Does your LED bulb work? Test it on a coin battery to ensure your bulb works. It may be you have a faulty bulb.

Another area that can cause problems is the quality of your copper and zinc. You want your copper and zinc to be as pure as possible so it can conduct the electrons without any interference. This is one of the reasons I suggest investing in proper plates, so you know the quality of your materials when conducting experiments.

Finally, these food based batteries dimly light up the LED. If you hook your LED up to a regular battery, it will glow much brighter.

More Fruit Battery Experiments

So now we have made both a lemon battery and a potato battery, which one is better? Both were able to light up our LED light bulbs, so in that sense they are both successful. However, the potato battery was definitely a lot more work. So if you are looking for a quicker experiment, the lemon battery is faster and easier. However, both have significant opportunities for learning and would make great science fair projects. Why not do both yourself and see what you think?

And in the fall, don’t forget to make a battery with pumpkins and squash ! The concept is similar to Lemon Batteries but with a Autumn/Halloween theme.

Want to dig in more? Try this experiment with other citrus fruit such as oranges or lime or grapefruit. You can also combine a variety of fruits to see which combination makes the best fruit battery.

How to Reuse Lemon Battery Cells

This lemon science project is a ton of fun but once you are done, what can you do with the lemons? It seems like such a waste to throw them out. We have two really cool projects to do next with your lemons!

Check out the gorgeous lemon volcano we created here after building our lemon batterie s!

Lemon science experiment creating a beautiful, sensory rich exploding lemon volcano

Another great project with these lemons is to make Lemon Oobleck for a fun, summery sensory project.

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Experiments

Lemon battery

Use a lemon... to light up a diode!

Copper wire
Magnesium strip
Put on protective gloves and eyewear.
Conduct the experiment on the plastic tray.
Do not allow chemicals to come into contact with the eyes or mouth.
Keep young children, animals and those not wearing eye protection away from the experimental area.
Store this experimental set out of reach of children under 12 years of age.
Clean all equipment after use.
Make sure that all containers are fully closed and properly stored after use.
Ensure that all empty containers are disposed of properly.
Do not use any equipment which has not been supplied with the set or recommended in the instructions for use.
Do not replace foodstuffs in original container. Dispose of immediately.
In case of eye contact: Wash out eye with plenty of water, holding eye open if necessary. Seek immediate medical advice.
If swallowed: Wash out mouth with water, drink some fresh water. Do not induce vomiting. Seek immediate medical advice.
In case of inhalation: Remove person to fresh air.
In case of skin contact and burns: Wash affected area with plenty of water for at least 10 minutes.
In case of doubt, seek medical advice without delay. Take the chemical and its container with you.
In case of injury always seek medical advice.
The incorrect use of chemicals can cause injury and damage to health. Only carry out those experiments which are listed in the instructions.
This experimental set is for use only by children over 12 years.
Because children’s abilities vary so much, even within age groups, supervising adults should exercise discretion as to which experiments are suitable and safe for them. The instructions should enable supervisors to assess any experiment to establish its suitability for a particular child.
The supervising adult should discuss the warnings and safety information with the child or children before commencing the experiments. Particular attention should be paid to the safe handling of acids, alkalis and flammable liquids.
The area surrounding the experiment should be kept clear of any obstructions and away from the storage of food. It should be well lit and ventilated and close to a water supply. A solid table with a heat resistant top should be provided
Substances in non-reclosable packaging should be used up (completely) during the course of one experiment, i.e. after opening the package.

FAQ and troubleshooting

Yes, that’s alright. Magnesium is an active metal, and it is reacting with the citric acid in the lemon juice. This reaction yields magnesium citrate and releases hydrogen gas, which is making the hissing sound.

Don't worry; use the piece of the lemon you have. Just make sure that the magnesium and copper aren’t touching each other.

First, make sure you’ve connected the copper wire to the red crocodile clip wire and the magnesium strip to the black crocodile clip wire.

Second, check that the LED is connected correctly: the black crocodile clip should be connected to the short “leg,” and the red clip to the long one.

Step-by-step instructions

Connect magnesium Mg strips and copper Cu wires to the crocodile clips.

Insert the metals into the pulpy section of the lemon.

Connect the LED to the crocodile clips. Voila! You’re powering the LED with help of the lemon!

Please refer to local regulations when disposing of chemicals. Dispose of other solid waste with household garbage. Pour leftover solutions down the sink. Wash with an excess of water.

Scientific description

How else can you make your own battery.

What if you desperately needed electricity but didn’t have any copper Cu or magnesium Mg? No worries! Some other pairs of metals would work just fine. To choose a good pair, you can use the chart chemists call the "metal reactivity series." A metal in this series will give electrons to any of the metals to its right (just like magnesium Mg gave electrons to copper Cu), and the farther apart the metals are in the series, the better they will push electrons through the wire.

If, perchance, you're out of lemons too, you can use any juicy fruit, vegetable, or even any solution that contains a lot of ions. Salt water, soda, or juice would work just fine.

How does this cell work?

Copper is less reactive than magnesium, so if these two metals are included in the same electric cell, the electrons will travel from magnesium to copper – through the LED. This shift is what makes the LED work. Since electrons are negatively-charged particles, the copper wire accumulates an excessive negative charge.

Neither metal is comfortable under such conditions, and here the lemon comes into play. Or, rather, not the lemon itself, but the lemon juice, which contains citric acid. In a solution, citric acid partially dissociates into citrate anions and hydrogen ions H + (or protons). In other words, it acts as an electrolyte solution – a solution that can conduct electricity. These protons take the excess of electrons from the copper wire to form hydrogen molecules:

2H + + 2e → H 2

At the same time, positively-charged magnesium ions leave the magnesium strip and pass into the solution, which causes the magnesium to gradually dissolve:

Mg 0 – 2e → Mg 2+

The process will continue until the magnesium strip dissolves completely.

How does an electrolyte solution work?

An electrolyte is usually a substance which can split into ions when dissolved. The resulting solution is called an electrolyte solution. Incidentally, citric acid is not the only substance that can act as an electrolyte. The same can be said for sodium chloride or almost any other water-soluble salt. As both positive ions (called cations) and negative ions (called anions) are released when an electrolyte dissolves, they can help maintain the balance between the charges in the cell, compensating for an excess of negative or positive charge from the metal plates. Without this balance, the battery cannot function.

Dozens of experiments you can do at home

One of the most exciting and ambitious home-chemistry educational projects The Royal Society of Chemistry

Lemon Battery Experiment: Generating Electricity Using a Lemon, Zinc, and Copper Electrodes

The Lemon Battery experiment is a simple and educational activity that demonstrates the basic principles of generating electricity through chemical reactions. By connecting a lemon to zinc and copper electrodes, you can create a low-voltage battery and observe the small amount of electrical current produced. This experiment provides insight into the concepts of electrochemistry and electrical circuits.

Materials Needed for this science experiment:

Fresh lemon
Zinc nail or galvanized nail (available at hardware stores)
Copper coin or strip (penny or piece of copper)
Multi meter (optional, for measuring voltage)
Connecting wires with alligator clips (optional, for making a circuit)
Protective cover for the workspace

1. Set Up the Workspace: Choose a clean and well-ventilated area for the experiment. Place a protective cover on the surface to catch any spills.

2. Gather Materials: Collect the lemon, zinc nail, copper coin or strip, and optional tools like a multimeter and connecting wires.

3. Insert Electrodes: Insert the zinc nail and copper coin (or strip) into the lemon. Push the zinc nail in one side and the copper coin on the other side, ensuring they don’t touch each other inside the lemon.

4. Observe and Test: You can use a multimeter to measure the voltage produced by the lemon battery. Connect the multimeter’s probes to the zinc nail and copper coin (or strip). If you don’t have a multimeter, you can proceed to the next step without measuring the voltage.

5. Connect a Circuit: If you have connecting wires with alligator clips, you can create a simple circuit by connecting the zinc nail to one terminal of an LED (light-emitting diode) and the copper coin to the other terminal. If the LED doesn’t light up, try reversing the connections, as LEDs are polarized.

6. Observe the LED: With the circuit connected, observe the LED to see if it lights up. The small amount of electricity generated by the lemon battery can power the LED.

7. Reflect on the Science: Discuss with children how the lemon battery works. The citric acid in the lemon acts as an electrolyte, allowing a chemical reaction to occur between the zinc and copper. This reaction generates a small amount of electrical current, which can be harnessed to power simple devices like the LED.

8. Experiment with Variations: You can try using different fruits or vegetables as electrolytes to see how they affect the voltage and current generated.

Safety Note

Although the materials are safe to touch, it’s recommended to wash your hands after handling the lemon.

The Lemon Battery experiment provides an engaging introduction to the principles of electrochemistry and the generation of electricity through chemical reactions. It’s a hands-on way to explore scientific concepts and spark curiosity about how batteries and circuits work.

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Lemon and Potato Battery Experiment

Learn how to generate electricity from common fruit or vegetables.

Posted by Admin / in Energy & Electricity Experiments

Is it possible to produce electricity from common fruit or vegetables? Fruits and vegetables require energy from the sun to grow and produce a harvest. Is it possible that some of the sun's energy is stored in the produce for our use? We know that by eating fruits and vegetables our body can convert this food to energy. Is it possible to directly generate electricity from a piece of fruit or a vegetable. This lemon battery and potato battery science experiment tests this theory.

Materials Needed

Copper strip or rod
Zinc strip or zinc-coated bolt
Circuit wire or alligator clips with wire

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. Alligator clips make this step easy.

Step 4: Measure the voltage drop between the two wires attached to the metal strips on the lemon and the potato. This is the amount of voltage being produced by each piece of produce. Compare the difference in the amount of voltage produced by a lemon and a potato. What do you notice? How long will the fruit and vegetable generate voltage?

Science Learned

The lemon and the potato act like a low-power battery. This experiment shows how a wet cell battery works. Chemicals in the fruit or vegetable create a negative charge in the zinc strip. Electrons move into the zinc strip and travel up the wire attached. The electrons then travel through the voltmeter which measures the voltage drop and end up in the copper strip which becomes the positive end of the circuit. Pardon the pun, but from this experiment we can say that it is possible to "produce electricity".

Oberlin College: Demonstration of lemon battery powering a buzzer .

U.S. Dept. of Energy: Calculating Lemon Battery Power Q&A

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COMMENTS

Generate Electricity with a Lemon Battery
Extra: Try different types of metals as electrodes for your batteries. Do you think a battery with two pennies as electrodes would generate electricity? What about a battery with a penny and a nickel?
The Science Behind The Lemon Battery : Short Wave : NPR
We're going "Back To School" today, revisiting a classic at-home experiment that turns lemons into batteries — powerful enough to turn on a clock or a small lightbulb. But how does the science ...
Lemon Battery Experiment
The lemon battery experiment is a classic science project that illustrates an electrical circuit, electrolytes, the electrochemical series of metals, and oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions.
Have a lemon, a penny and a nail? You can make light at home
Just in time for the return of the school year, we're going "Back To School" by revisiting a classic at-home experiment that turns lemons into batteries — powerful enough to turn on a clock or a ...
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"The Aqueous Battery Consortium is dedicated to doing the scientific research that will enable large-scale deployment of aqueous batteries," said Eglash. "The consortium will be accountable to a governance board and get external advice from two advisory boards. One will advise us on the scientific direction of our work.
Lemon battery
A lemon battery is a simple battery often made for the purpose of education. Typically, a piece of zinc metal (such as a galvanized nail) and a piece of copper (such as a penny) are inserted into a lemon and connected by wires.
Construction and evaluation of electrical properties of a lemon battery
Abstract and Figures The objective of the research was to develop a lemon battery and determine the electrical properties of lemon battery.
New GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for highest voltage from fruit battery
Royal Society of Chemistry and Professor Saiful Islam have set a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for the highest voltage from a fruit battery. We used 2,923 lemons to generate an astonishing 2,307.8 volts, which smashed the previous world record of 1,521 volts, and launched a battery-powered go-kart race run by the Blair Project in ...
Lemon Battery
You can make a battery using a piece of fruit? Yes, technically, but not a very strong one! The source of electric energy in this demonstration is the combination of copper and zinc strips in the citric acid of the lemon. The citric acid of the lemon reacts with the zinc and loosens electrons. Copper […]
PDF Lemon Batteries Can you get power from a lemon?
A measure of electric force that causes electrons to move from one atom to another @home Lemon Batteries The science of a how a lemon can act as a battery. How it works: ee things—two electrodes and one electrolyte. One of the electrodes has to have a stronger desire for electrons than the other—in chemistr
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Battery Science Activity: Investigate how to make a simple battery out of a coin, a lemon and aluminum foil.
Make a Lemon Battery
The power from a lemon isn't going to be enough to power your cell phone, but in this week's hands-on family science activity, kids can experiment with a homemade, low-voltage battery using a lemon and "feel" the electricity created. Using other projects (see below), families and students can expand the science exploration to other fruits and ...
Simple Lemon Battery
Step-by-Step picture instructions, troubleshooting tips, and a detailed explanation of the science behind a simple lemon battery used to power an LED.
Relationship between lemon numbers and voltage production. Bars
Bars represent standard deviation from publication: Construction and evaluation of electrical properties of a lemon battery | The objective of the research was to develop a lemon battery and ...
Lemon Cells Revisited
The use of dissimilar metal strips and a lemon to create a voltaic cell is well known and even portrayed in a current freshman chemistry text. We were unable to reproduce a previously published version of the lemon battery. We decided to search for items that could be used in a small to medium sized classroom that would work reliably and ...
PDF Build a Lemon Battery
Build a Lemon Battery At-Home A lemon on its own is not a battery. But add electrodes, make a path for electrons to move, and you have all the basic elements of a battery. Build your own lemon battery and feel energized when you juice up a small LED with electricity! Question to investigate How can you use lemons to light a small LED? Chemistry ...
How To Make A Lemon Battery?
The lemon battery experiment given here explains the working of the lemon battery using electrodes and electrolyte. To learn more on how to make a lemon battery, visit BYJU'S.
Construction and Evaluation of Electrical Properties of a Lemon Battery
Abstract: The objective of the research was to develop a lemon battery and determine the electrical properties of lemon battery. The main hypothesis of the research work was to determine whether lemon can produce electricity or not. Lemon has a voltaic cell which changes chemical energy into electrical energy.
Science-U @ Home / Lemon Batteries Experiment
A red LED typically needs a voltage of 1.2-1.6 V, so we need more power to light the bulb. Follow steps 3-5 to make 3 or 4 more lemon cells. (Optional) If you have a multimeter, check each lemon battery to make sure it generates voltage and current. Connect the lemon batteries together using the wire test leads.
How to Make a Lemon Battery
For this science fair project, kids will learn how to make a lemon battery. They can conduct this classic experiment using readily available materials.
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Lemon battery
That's where the lemon comes in. Tiny magnesium particles with some electrons missing (magnesium ions Mg 2+ ) can abandon the metal chunk for the lemon juice, leaving the spare electrons free to go from Mg to Cu. To accept these Mg 2+ ions , the lemon juice has to get rid of some other + (positive) ions. Luckily, lemon juice contains a lot of ...
Lemon Battery Experiment
Lemon Battery Experiment: Generating Electricity Using a Lemon, Zinc, and Copper Electrodes The Lemon Battery experiment is a simple and educational activity that demonstrates the basic principles of generating electricity through chemical reactions. By connecting a lemon to zinc and copper electrodes, you can create a low-voltage battery and observe the small amount of electrical current ...
Lemon Battery
Easy science experiment using a lemon and a potato as a battery. Teach kids about alternative energy sources.
Lemon Battery: Definition, Experiment, Results, and Sample Questions
A lemon battery is a simple battery made using zinc metal, such as a galvanized nail, and a copper item, such as a penny. These are wired together and inserted into a lemon. The zinc and copper are called electrodes and lemon juice is an electrolyte. This battery illustrates the type of chemical reaction (oxidation-reduction) that occurs in ...

Generate Electricity with a Lemon Battery

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What is a Lemon Battery?

How To Make A Lemon Battery?

Things you will need:

What happens in a Lemon Battery?

What is an Electric Cell?

Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs

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Construction and Evaluation of Electrical Properties of a Lemon Battery

Lemon Batteries

Batteries consist of two different metals suspended in an acidic solution.

You Will Need

Troubleshooting your lemon battery:

Discovery Questions

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Going Further

Related learning resources

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Troubleshooting

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Lemon battery

FAQ and troubleshooting

Step-by-step instructions

Scientific description

How does this cell work?

How does an electrolyte solution work?

Dozens of experiments you can do at home

Lemon Battery Experiment: Generating Electricity Using a Lemon, Zinc, and Copper Electrodes

Materials Needed for this science experiment:

Safety Note

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