I was wandering if you could tell me about the electricity behind the project. If you have any other background information you could share about the electricity or the science inside the potato.
Thank you! I want to do the same " make a battery. Hope to show mine in the future. Bright sparks, we all are. Tip 10 months ago on Introduction. Israeli researchers found that boiling the potatoes 8 minutes increases their output.
I'd be interested to know if one boiled potato would power a LED. Reply 3 years ago. First let me say thank you for this post. Although this has been done a few times with potatoes and a multitude of other food items, it is always great to see it again.
This will pike the interest in some new students to try and make this and that is the beginning of more electronic students. So you never know, you could have started a whole new class full of new technicians Bravo sir, Bravo. By DramaticIron Follow. More by the author:.
In another activity, students design and build flashlights. Students are introduced to several key concepts of electronic circuits. They learn about some of the physics behind circuits, the key components in a circuit and their pervasiveness in our homes and everyday lives. Students are introduced to the idea of electrical energy.
They learn about the relationships between charge, voltage, current and resistance. In the associated activities, students learn how a circuit works and test materials to see if they conduct electricity.
What is electrical energy? From where does it come? Can you think of anything that needs electrical energy to work? How about lamps, music players, TVs and ovens? How do we get the power to run these devices? What role do electrical engineers play in improving our lives? One place we can find electrical energy in our homes is at a wall outlet.
So, how does electrical energy reach the wall outlet in our house? The energy comes from an electrical power plant, which usually makes electrical energy from burning fossil fuels, such as coal and oil. The heat energy from the burning fuel heats up water. When the water boils, it becomes steam, which flows through a pipe into a turbine a wheel with blades.
As the turbine spins from the steam, it turns a generator a spinning magnet that unbalances the charges in nearby atoms and produces a current of electricity. The electrical current flows through protected wires to our house. How else can we power electrical appliances?
That's right, from a battery. A battery works by providing electrons with a solution in which they can move around. Zinc is a metal that likes to give its electrons to copper.
Usually, zinc just gives its electrons to copper and then the process stops. However, if you provide the electrons with a solution called an electrolyte to help them move to the copper, and you give the electrons a wire in which they can move from the copper back to the zinc, you can produce a circuit and a flowing path of electrical energy. Note: Conventional current flows from positive to negative, so from the copper, through the wire, back to the zinc. The electrons actually flow negative to positive.
A circuit is a complete path of electrical energy. This means that electrical energy or charge is produced or stored somewhere voltage and has a path for the charge to flow or current. Another part of a circuit is a resistance , such as a light bulb. Electrical engineers create circuits to help electrical energy perform work, such as lighting a room or keeping food cold.
An appliance, light bulb or almost any device that uses electrical energy is a resistance. A resistance prevents or slows an electrical current or charge from moving. When electrical current flows through a source of resistance, it can be changed into light or heat or sound. Even though you cannot see it, the light bulb or appliance slows down the electrical charge. Electrical engineers help develop the many modern products and appliances that require electrical energy.
Electrical engineers also help create the technology used to generate the electrical energy in power plants in the first place. These engineers know a lot about circuits and they continually work to find better ways to store electrical charge and generate electrical current without using nonrenewable fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
These electrical engineers are very important in almost everything we do! Essentially, electrical engineers create improvements for society and help save our planet for future generations. Today, we are going to be electrical engineers and learn more about how electrical energy works in a circuit. We are also going to look at generating electrical current from the energy stored in a potato!
Do you think we can light a bulb with a potato? Let's try it! How does a potato battery work? The copper Cu atoms attract electrons more than the zinc Zn atoms. If you place a strip of copper and a strip of zinc in contact with each other, many electrons pass from the zinc to the copper. While Rabinowitch and team have found a way to make potatoes produce more power than usual, the basic principles are taught in high school science classes, to demonstrate how batteries work.
To make a battery from organic material, all you need is two metals — an anode, which is the negative electrode, such as zinc, and a cathode, the positively charged electrode, such as copper.
The acid inside the potato forms a chemical reaction with the zinc and copper, and when the electrons flow from one material to another, energy is released. This was discovered by Luigi Galvani in when he connected two metals to the legs of a frog, causing its muscles to twitch. But you can put many materials between these two electrodes to get the same effect. Alexander Volta, around the time of Galvani, used saltwater-soaked paper. Potatoes are often the preferred vegetable of choice for teaching high school science students these principles.
Yet to the surprise of Rabinowitch, no one had scientifically studied spuds as an energy source. They found that by simply boiling the potatoes for eight minutes, it broke down the organic tissues inside the potatoes, reducing resistance and allowing for freer movement of electrons— thus producing more energy.
They also increased the energy output by slicing the potato into four or five pieces, each sandwiched by a copper and zinc plate, to make a series. In , the world produced a staggering ,, tonnes of potatoes. How Do Batteries Work? How to Convert 12 Volt Alternator to Volts.
Parts of a Battery. How to Build a Simple Lemon Battery. How to Make a Potato Battery.
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