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Citrus Batteries Experiment

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The purpose of me doing this experiment is to see which citrus fruit works as a better battery. From the various types of citrus fruits I chose to used a lemon and an orange. This is called a citrus battery. I am attempting to charge a holiday light bulb using a citrus battery as opposed to a traditional battery. I learned a lot of things from doing this project. One of the most important things I learned is that citrus fruits can be used as an alternative battery used to light a light bulb. I also learned that the acid in the fruit gives the power to the nails which transfers its energy to the light bulb. My procedures are the following:
The first is to gather your materials.
The next step is to take one of the fruits of our choice and squeeze …show more content…

Did you know that you could make your own battery? Batteries are the most common source of electricity. This is true especially for the smaller electrical devices that need electrical power to work. Not all batteries are the same. They are categorized by their voltage. Batteries are also categorized by their electrolytes. Batteries store chemical energy and transform energy into electricity. There are two types of batteries. This is based on the type of electrolytes it uses. There is a wet call and a dry cell. Wet cells use liquid electrolytes that are in the form of a solution. It is the original rechargeable battery. The dry cell is used in portable electronics. It uses electrolytes that are in the form of a paste. In this project I will be making a wet cell battery. Wet cell batteries are made of a negative electrode, positive electrode and an electrode which conducts ions (atoms with an electronic charge). The natural acids in the fruit juices act like the chemicals in store bought batteries. When juices react with metals, the electronic imbalance generates electricity. Citric acid is the substance that imparts a tart flavor to fruits, like oranges and, lemons. When trying to decide which citrus fruit to use it was a hard choice because there were so many to choose from. For example, after walking through the grocery store some of the fruit I noticed were lime and lemon, grapefruit, kiwi, tomato, pineapple, …show more content…

The citrus fruits are the electrical source that provides the acid to produce electricity. The zinc nail and the copper nail are used by moving the electrons or negatively charged ions from the fruit to the zinc nail leaving the protons in the fruit. The light is just to show if the experiment worked or not. It shows you by simply turning on or staying off. If the light bulb turns on that means that the fruit battery worked. If the light bulb stays off, that means the fruit battery did work. Please note that it is suggested for my research that I use a small light bulb and preferably a colored or opaque (non transparent) bulb for the best results. The micro ammeter is used to measure the electrical

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