Lemon Power: Electricity from acids and fruits

Question: Can the acids in lemons and other fruits register electricity to a voltmeter?

Hypothesis: I think a lemon and other fruit can register electricity. The acids produce electricity. This will happen from a chemical reaction with the acid and two metal electrodes, forming a full circuit.

Our Experiment

Materials: 

-ripe lemons
-galvanized nails
-pennies or copper electrode
-voltmeter
-knife
-wire cutter[if your wire is rubber covered, also get some sort of wire peeler]
-copper wire
-grapefruit
-tomato
-orange
-pickle
      

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Safety Procedures

Wear latex gloves, goggles are optional. DO NOT squeeze the lemons or jab the nails or clips in. It can get into your eyes, burning them.

Procedure:

1. Gather materials
2. Wrap wire around nails[negative elctrode] and pennies[positive electrode]
3. Stick nail in fruit. This is now your negative electrode.
4. Cut slits in fruit for penny
5.Stick penny in fruit. This is now your positive electrode.
6.Insert wire to voltmeter. You should get a charge of 0.80-0.95 volts. If not try again with another fruit.
7.Record data and form conclusion
8. You can try again with a different fruit! Just redo the steps as you did with the first fruit you picked.

Watch us in action:

The Science behind it

When the acids react with the 2 metals, it makes a positive and negative. Your zinc electrode is positive, and copper is negative. The acids in the lemon are similar to a battery. Do you know why they call Duracell " The Copper Top battery"? That is because it is similar to ours. They use copper as a negative metal in their battery.

Conclusions

I accept my hypothesis. Acids in some fruits, mainly citrus, can produce enough power to register a circuit.

About William

William is 10 years old. Science is his absolute favorite subject and like the other scientist, Cassidy, he enjoys playing Minecraft,making movies, and playing  with and collecting LEGOs. He also plays basketball.

About Cassidy

Cassidy is 11 years old and LEGOs,  Minecraft, and moviemaking. Science is a favorite of hers and likes Selena Gomez music.