Fruit juice contains acid, which conducts electricity. A fruit juice battery converts chemical energy into electrical energy. To make a fruit juice battery, connect wires between coins inserted in fruit and a voltmeter. Your electric fruit salad may include a lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, apple and banana--or any fruits you choose. Record on paper the results of turning fruit into mini-power plants.
Roll the citrus fruits on the counter to loosen the juices inside. Do not roll the apple and banana.
2
Cut two slits about a fingerprint apart in each piece of fruit.
3
Rub the pennies and nickels with sandpaper.
4
Insert a nickel in one slit in each piece of fruit and a penny in the other.
5
Connect a pair of alligator clips, located on each end of a connector wire, to a nickel inserted in a piece of fruit, and to one of the leads on the voltmeter. Test the fruits one at a time.
6
Repeat the step by connecting a pair of alligator clips to a penny inserted in the same piece of fruit to the other lead on the voltmeter.
7
Record and compare voltmeter readings, rating the fruits from the most powerful to the least.
Tips & Warnings
Try the experiment with vegetables.
Use a speaker from a transistor radio if you don't have a voltmeter. It will click when it registers electric current.
