Lemon Powered Clock
Materials Needed:
3 Lemons
Cardboard
Aluminum Foil
Cheap digital clock (the kind you stick on the dashboard
of your car
Paper Clips
3- Two inch pieces of 1/2 inch Copper Tubing
Thin Copper wire (about 3-4 feet)
Scissors
Tape
Salt
Cut 3 stips of cardboard (1 inch by 5 inch each).
Wrap the strips in foil.
Have an adult cut a slit in each lemon and insert one cardboard/aluminum strip in each lemon.
Attach a paper clip to the top of each strip.
Now have an adult cut another slit in each lemon and insert one copper tube in each lemon. The cooper and aluminum should be
very close, but NOT touching.
Wire the lemons together- Attach copper wire from the copper tube on lemon 1 to the aluminum strip on lemon 2. Attach another copper strip from the copper tube on lemon 2 to the aluminum strip on lemon 3. Attach another copper wire from the copper tube on lemon 3. Attach another copper wire to the aluminum strip on lemon 1. The lemons will all be lined up and attached toghter, with a loose wire from lemon 1 and lemon 3 (off the ends).
Remove the battery from the little clock.
Attach the free end (of copper wire) of lemon 3 to the positive terminal in the battery compartment of the clock. It is usually the metal piece right in the middle of the circle.
Now attach the free end (copper wire) of lemon 1 to the negative terminal. It is usually on the side of the battery compartment.
Wait a few minutes and your project should be running like a clock!
Why?
The two metals react with the acid in the lemon to create a electrical current.
That current flows along your circuit to power the clock.
Enjoy!
This is a fun way for kids to test acids and alkalis in the kitchen. When they are done, they will have a T-Shirt dyed with acids and alkalis! We did this during a chemistry study and entered the shirt and a display, explaining what we did, in the county fair. The kids won first place!
NOTE- This is a perfect addition to the chemistry study here at homeschooling science!
Supplies:
Clean White T-Shirt (it won't be white when we are done)
Purple cabbage
Food from the kitchen: Lemon, Orange, Sour Milk, Baking Soda, Yogurt, Water, Pickle Juice, Soda, Rolaids dissolved in water and anything else you can make into a liquid!
Alum - you can buy this in the spice section of the grocery store. You don't have to have it, but, alum works as a mordent. A mordent helps hold color onto fabric.
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