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Lemon Battery Experiment

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Have you ever tried the lemon battery experiment? Well if not, it’s time to give it a try!  Here I will show you how a lemon can light up a light bulb or even a small clock!

Lemon batteries are an experiment that has been around for a while, but it is always such a delight to see it in action! Kids just love it. I’ll show you how to build your own lemon battery today. This is an awesome science project for kids, or great for any STEM project!

Science has always been more of a boy field, but more and more girls are becoming increasingly interested in science. Did you know that only 1 in 1,000 girls pursue a STEM career? Hopefully we can soon change that! This is a fun way to start them on the path and get young girls interested.

My daughter loves learning about all kinds of science fields from nature to electricity to coding, but I would say leans more toward artistic careers for the future. However, I love doing science experiments with her to help her see how great science can be. This lemon battery is a great one to start with if you have kids expressing an interest in STEM projects.

 lemon battery STEM project

STEM, if you are not familiar stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. We received a free STEM themed box from Green Works teaching us how to create this project, but it is easy to recreate on your own!

How to Make a Lemon Battery

Supplies to Make a Lemon Battery:

Small LED Light Bulb  (LED= light-emitting diode)
4 Lemons
Alligator Clips
Zinc nails, a zinc strip or a galvanized nail (can be easily found at a hardware store)
Copper Wire, a copper strip, or copper coin- pennies work great

Try also this fruit powered digital clock!

fruit powered clock

How to Make a Lemon Battery:

The first step is to roll the lemons on a hard surface to break apart the juice pockets in the lemon cells. Get ready to make some lemon power!

In each of the 4 lemons, make 2 small slits with a knife and place a nail in one side and piece of copper wire or a copper penny on the other side.

Connect the nail on the first lemon to the copper wire or copper pennies on the second lemon. Continue this and connect them all in a circle except for the first and last ones.

On these two last lemons, connect one alligator clip to a nail and to part of the LED bulb and the other to a copper wire and to the other part of the light. This will complete the electrical current and light up the light!!  Be sure to match up the positive electrode and the negative electrode correctly. If you don’t the battery will not work properly.

Connect a multimeter to test the voltage. Will the volts be higher if you make the chain longer and add more lemons?

making a lemon battery

How Does the Lemon Battery Work?

A battery generates electricity by passing electrons between two. different metals (one that is positively charged and one that is negatively charged). These electrons create an electrical current as they pass through a solution with molecules that will move the charged particles back and forth between the two different metals. In this instance, the solution is the lemon juice. 

The lemon battery is made with two different metals: copper wire (you could also do it with a penny) and a galvanized (or zinc coated) nail. The lemon has citric acid in the juice. The zinc and copper are the electrodes and the lemon juice is the electrolyte. A chemical reaction happens that is called oxidation-reduction, where there is a transfer of electrons. The zinc is oxidized inside the lemon, some of its electrons are transferred to the copper to reach a lower energy state. The energy released creates the power, lighting up the bulb. The wires allow this transfer of energy.

Try a different kind of fruit battery~ Do other citrus fruits work, too?  Will limes, grapefruit or oranges work just as well?

Did you enjoy this lemon science project?  Try some of my other fun science experiments and activities!

Check out some more of our cool STEM activities & Science Fair Projects.

See More Electricity Experiments:

Science Art: Conductive Paint Circuits
Christmas STEM: Gingerbread House Paper Circuits
EASY Play Dough Circuits
Building Electric Circuits: STEM Challenge Cards
Origami Firefly Paper Circuits

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