Introduction: Wet Cell Battery Out of Food
A wet cell battery is usually a container of liquid electrolyte with two metal rods in it. One rod is copper, and the other is made of zinc. The rods connect to a load (a load is something that converts electrical energy into another form of energy, ex: a light bulb) and power it. Wet cell batteries are often used in cars and other motor vehicles.
Believe it or not, you can make your own wet cell battery at home, without the use of harsh chemicals! You will need the following supplies:
- Various fruits and vegetables (If you want your battery to actually power something, you will need quite a few food items)
- Alligator clips (Useful for connecting your batteries together/to a load)
- Pennies or other copper object
- Galvanized screws/nails
- A voltmeter
- A small LED or other load (optional)
- A kitchen knife
- Paper towels
Step 1: Put It All Together
Take your knife and cut two small slits on the top of your produce, about 2-3 inches apart. Put the penny in one slit and the nail/screw in the other. You may want to keep paper towels nearby if you are using a juicy fruit.
Step 2: Measure the Volts
Turn on your voltmeter, and set the dial to volts or millivolts. This is usually in the upper left hand corner and is labeled DC V. Hold the red lead (+) to the penny, and the black lead (-) to the screw. Look at the screen and record how many volts your food has. Estimate the number of volts in other fruits and veg and test them out!
The potato had 92 millivolts, and the orange had 1.01 volts. I would like to try lemons and maybe tomatoes, but I only had fresh ones and I feel bad wasting perfectly good food.
Step 3:
You can try connecting lots of 'batteries' together (using copper wire or alligator clips), to power something such as an LED. Have fun experimenting!
*Please leave a comment if I made a mistake with any information. Thanks!
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6 Comments
9 years ago on Introduction
I noticed one common thing. The stored energy in all these foods, but static. Not near enough to power any device or lighting element. Cool science projects for the kids, but what about the grow-ups. How about going one step up the "FOOD CHAIN', so to speak. LOL. Add current by some form of generating and see how much these foods can take. But be warned, because you might need to get behind a shield of sorts. I would like to see someone put this on YOU TUBE. Let us know what happens.
9 years ago on Introduction
the lemon battery is working but the light is dim should we use four lemons?
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
Sorry I didn't reply sooner! Four lemons should work, but I suppose it also depends on what size of lemon you're using. You could also take some inspiration from this instructable: https://www.instructables.com/id/supercharged-lemon/ and add another set of screws and pennies to take out more energy from only one lemon. Thanks for commenting!
9 years ago on Introduction
that looks very simple can it light up an LED?
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
If you use some very acidic fruits/veg it can light up an LED, but even with lemons I ended up having to attach 3-4 together before it would work. I didn't wait to see how long it would last. You should try it out! Thanks for commenting!
9 years ago on Introduction
and if you do put the LED with this, how long will the light last?