Can you believe that it is possible to make your own batteries?

Batteries are a common source of electricity, especially for small appliances and devices that need electrical power to function. In this simple experiment we are going to create our own battery using citrus fruits, with a wattage strong enough to turn on a small LED light bulb. Then we’ll look at how citrus fruits can work like batteries.

To make our fruit pile work, we need to gather the following materials:

✔ Citrus fruits, such as lemons, limes, oranges, etc.
✔ Nail or copper coin.
✔ Small light bulb (if possible, colored or opaque with a 5cm head with enough cable to connect it to the nails).
✔ Insulating tape
✔ zinc or galvanized nail
✔ Micro ammeter (optional)

Process

The estimated time of the experiment is five to ten minutes. You don’t need much time to create your fruit battery!

Now, the first step is to take the citrus fruit you want and squeeze it from all sides with your hands without breaking the skin. Your goal is to soften the citrus fruit enough to be able to extract its juice.

The next step is to pierce the citrus fruit. Insert the nails into the fruit, about 5cm apart from each other, in such a way that the two nails end up in the center of the fruit without touching. Be careful when driving the nails. Go slowly, making sure you don’t go all the way through the fruit.

With the cloves inserted into the citrus fruit, it’s time to prepare the bombilla. Take the bulb and peel back the plastic insulation to expose the wire at the bottom. Wrap the exposed wires around the heads of the 2 nails. Use the electrical tape to secure each end of the wire to the nails.

With the wires of the light bulb securely fastened to both the copper nail and the galvanized nail, your light bulb will light up!

Discussion

Fruit juice contains electrolytes and the more acidic it is, the better it is at conducting electricity. For this reason, the fruit pile worked. When you inserted the galvanized or zinc nail into the fruit, negatively charged ions or electrons began to move from the fruit to the zinc nail, thus leaving the protons in the fruit. This transfer of electrons creates electricity as soon as you connect the wires to the nail. This is how the light bulb turns on!