The Supplies Needed to Make a Battery for a Science Project
Science projects are great opportunities for kids to get up close and personal with scientific principles they usually only read about in books. Making their own battery is a safe and educational project that kids will enjoy working on. You can choose from a few different types of batteries, each requiring a few specific supplies that you can get at your local grocery store or hardware store.
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Lemon Battery
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To create a lemon battery, you will need a lemon, 18-gauge copper wire, wire clippers, steel paper clips or 2-inch strips of zinc and a sheet of coarse sandpaper. Use the wire clippers to strip off the insulation from the copper wire and then clip 2 inches of bare wire. Use the sandpaper to smooth rough spots on the ends of the wire. The paper clips or zinc and the wire will stick out of the lemon and act as an outlet for the electric current in the lemon.
Air or Saltwater Battery
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Air or saltwater batteries require a low-voltage miniature light bulb, a miniature base for the light bulb, a pair of insulated solid copper wires, a pair of alligator clips, magnesium electrodes, iron electrodes, a cup of saltwater and screws for the miniature base. You might also want to get a wooden board to mount the base. You will use the cup of saltwater to provide power, which will flow from the copper wires to the miniature bulb mounted into the base.
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Potato Battery
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You can make a clock run on a potato in this project. You will need two potatoes, two short pieces of heavy copper wire, two galvanized nails, three alligator clips that are connected to each other with a wire and a low-voltage LED clock that runs on a 1- to 2-volt button battery. The nails and the copper wire go into the potato, and the alligator clips connect the potato to the clock.
Coin Battery
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The coin battery possesses similarities to both the lemon and saltwater batteries. For this battery, you will need six each of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. You will also need a voltmeter, a pair of scissors, a spoon, a thick paper towel or cloth and a bowl of saltwater. You will cut the paper or cloth into small pieces and sandwich them between a penny and a nickel to create small battery cells, and later you'll try the same technique with the dimes and quarters.
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References
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