How to Make Electricity

You can make electricity by dragging your feet across the carpet, or rubbing a balloon on your head. Believe it or not, even fruits can produce electricity. Citrus fruits contain acid similar to the acid found in batteries. So get ready to use that lemon or lime as a makeshift generator.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Lemon or lime
• Copper screw
• Zinc screw
• Christmas lights

1. Soften the skin of the lemon or lime. Rub it between the palms of your hands or gently scrub it repeatedly with a paper towel. Don't break the skin or it won't produce electricity.
2. Place the copper and zinc screws into the lemon or lime. They should be approximately 2 inches apart. Don't puncture the other side of the lemon or lime.
3. Disassemble the outer layer of insulation from the Christmas lights. Don't cut the wire located under the insulation.
4. Wrap one of the Christmas light wires around the zinc screw. Twist the other end around the copper screw. Observe the reaction carefully as it only produces a small amount of electricity.
5. Measure the amount of electricity produced. You can do this with a multi tester or a battery tester.
6. Try using other types of fruits to see if they make electricity. You may get results from apples, oranges or bananas.

Tips & Warnings

• This would be a good science fair experiment. You could measure and test which fruit produces the greatest amount of electricity, and which fruit continuously charges the Christmas lights for the longest time before the fruit rots.