Posted to Instructables by shiboohi
Step 1:Supplies
In this experiment you will need
- Two oranges (any citrus fruit will do but oranges are cooler)
- Two pennies
- Two large paper clips
- Three pieces of copper wire (about 6-8")
- A battery operated digital alarm clock
- Scissors and/or knife
Step 2:Preparation and beginning
First, attach one copper wire to one penny, and another to a paper-clip.
Now attach a paper-clip to one end of the last wire and a penny to the other end.
Roll and squeeze the oranges to loosen up the pulp
Now make two incisions on each fruit, (about 1.5 inches or 4 centimeters apart) and put the penny wire in one hole
Then on the other fruit, insert the paper-clip wire. and then insert the dual wire's individual pieces into their opposite fruit (paper-clip to penny and vise versa)
Step 3:Get attached
Now there should be a wire sticking out of each fruit and one wire connecting the two fruit.
Stick the wires into their appropriate places on the battery terminal of the clock and it should start working!
The energy from the oranges should last up to a week!
Step 4:Why this works
There's a chemical reaction between the steel in the paper clip and the lemon juice. There's also a chemical reaction between the copper in the penny and the lemon juice. These two chemical reactions push electrons through the wires.
Because the two metals are different, the electrons get pushed harder in one direction than the other. If the metals were the same, the push would be equal and no electrons would flow. The electrons flow in one direction around in a circle and then come back to the lemon battery. While they flow through the clock, they make it work. This flow is called electric current.
Step 5:Thanks
thanks for reading my instructable! i hope you have a blast and it as works well for you as it did for me.
special thanks to virtuallibrary.stao.ca and keetsa.com for the photos used in the intro and the "why this works" sections
Go Green and help our planet!
