Potato Battery

Presenter: Jonathan Hare

Published: March 2009

Age: 11-14 and upwards

Views: 2144 views

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Type: Lectures

Source/institution: Vega

When two different types of conductors are pushed into a potato chemical reactions take place charging them up – we have a simple electrochemical cell. A potato, zinc screw and carbon rod produce about 1V. We experiment joining a few of these cells up in series and then in parallel circuits to increase the total voltages and currents. With these batteries we power various electrical devices.