How to Make a Battery with a Lemon

You can use a fresh lemon to make a battery. Or to flavor your fish.

You can make a low voltage battery using lemons. In fact, you can use any number of fruits to make a battery. The acid in the lemon (or other fruit) acts as the electrolyte. The nail you will use becomes the lemon battery's negative electrode and the copper wire is the lemon battery's positive electrode. The lemon battery will provide about 1/4 to 1/3 of a volt of electricity. This makes a great, safe science experiment for kids. And, if you ever need an extra 1/3 volt of electricity, you'll know where to find it.

Things You'll Need

• Lemon (or other fruit)
• Nail
• Heavy copper wire or paper clip
• Small electrical device
• Wire

Instructions

1. Insert the nail or paper clip into the lemon.

2. Stick a piece of the copper wire into the lemon. Make sure the wire is close to the nail, but not touching it.

3. Try connecting a very small electrical device or a voltage meter to your lemon battery. You will need to use the wire to connect it. Observe what happens.

4. If there is not enough voltage, you may string a number of lemons together to make more electricity. You can do this by sticking the ends of a small conductive wires into each lemon to link them together, with your copper on one end's lemon and the nail in the other end's.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are working with children, be sure to allow them to do as many steps as possible on their own. They definitely will need adult supervision on this one, but do not try to do the experiment for them. Allowing them to do it on their own will build their self-esteem and love of learning.

• Do not forget you are using live electricity; even though it is generated by friendly looking fruit, it can give you quite a zap. Exercise caution and common sense.