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Wesley Fink - Lemon Power Lab Write-Up

The student conducted an experiment to test if a lemon battery could power an LED light. They hypothesized that connecting a lemon with copper wire and zinc material to an LED would power the light. Through multiple tests combining lemons and potatoes, only the circuit with two lemons and a potato was able to faintly light the LED. The student concluded that a single lemon or potato does not produce enough voltage on its own, but combining two lemons and a potato provided enough voltage to power the LED.

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163 views3 pages

Wesley Fink - Lemon Power Lab Write-Up

The student conducted an experiment to test if a lemon battery could power an LED light. They hypothesized that connecting a lemon with copper wire and zinc material to an LED would power the light. Through multiple tests combining lemons and potatoes, only the circuit with two lemons and a potato was able to faintly light the LED. The student concluded that a single lemon or potato does not produce enough voltage on its own, but combining two lemons and a potato provided enough voltage to power the LED.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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WEEK #6 Assignment # 1

Outline the specifics of your Lemon Power Lab!


Name: Wesley Fink
Lab Title/Topic: Lemon Power!

Objective (What are you testing/trying to find out?): The goal of this lab is to further our understanding of
energy and how it transfers by using household items to make an electrical circuit.

Background/Research (Describe the chemistry that allows lemons to operate as a battery):


A battery contains an anode, a cathode, and an acidic solution. These aspects allow for a series of chemical
reactions to occur when connected to an electrical current. While these reactions are occurring, the anode
end generates extra electrons that attempt to go to the positive end, but are barred by the acidic solution.
This causes the electrons to go outside the battery to go to the positive end and is what powers the device.

Hypothesis: (Idea or explanation that you then test through research and experimentation
One sentence in an if ____, then_____ statement (when appropriate):
If a lemon with a copper wire and zinc material is connected to an LED, then the LED will be
powered.

Materials to be tested: Other Needed Materials:


● 2 lemons ● 4 alligator clips
● 1 potato ● Means for taking and recording data (i.e a
● 3 copper wires computer)
● 1 LED
● 1 Zinc sheet
● 1 nail
● 1 paperclip

Procedure (Order of steps) Remember as you write these steps be as specific as possible. I should be able to
pick up your procedure and follow step by step how you conducted your experiments:
1. Roll the lemon gently on a table to break the cell walls and loosen up the juice inside. The sour juice
is needed for the chemical reaction that you are about to start.
2. Stick the zinc strip (paperclip or zinc covered nail) into a spot in the lemon about 1/4 inch away
from the copper wire. Make sure the wires don’t touch. The wires need to be close to each other
because they will be swapping matter in the chemical reaction. If they are too far apart, the matter
might lose their way.
3. The lemon battery is now ready to be used. Connect one alligator wire to the copper and a second
wire to the zinc.
4. To light the bulb, connect each end of the alligator clips to the LED. If the light does not light up
immediately, switch the bulb around (electricity can only flow through the bulb in one direction)
the longer wire is the positive end of your LED bulb.
5. If you have a multimeter, try testing your battery. Make sure the setting is at DCV 20.
6. Repeat steps 1-3 two more times with another lemon and a potato.
7. To retest with the extra lemon and/or potato, connect the zinc and copper areas of each food
together using alligator clips, while still having one zinc end and one copper end attached to the
LED.
8. Mix and match the different foods to conduct different tests.
9. Take pictures of your lemon battery in action! And a picture of your data table/experiments
conducted.

Data/Observation Information that was gathered (All data is presented in a neat and organized way. All pictures and
tables are labeled. Includes observations as needed. All measurements and units of data are clear and accurate.):

Materials Used: Photo of Setup: Results:

1 lemon, 1 paperclip, 1 copper The LED did not end up lighting


wire, 1 LED, 2 alligator clips up.

2 lemons, 1 paperclip, 2 copper The LED did not end up lighting


wires, 1 LED, 1 zinc nail, 3 up.
alligator clips

1 lemon, 1 potato, 1 paperclip, 2 The LED did not light up.


copper wires, 1 LED, 1 zinc
sheet, 3 alligator clips

2 lemons, 1 potato, 1 paperclip, The LED lit up faintly, as can be


2 copper wires, 1 LED, 1 zinc seen by the second image.
sheet, 1 zinc nail, 4 alligator
clips
Analysis of data Puts meaning to the Data (Also a good place to address independent, dependent, and controlled
variables here):

For this experiment, the independent variable was the lemon battery. The depedent variable was the LED,
as its lighting relied on whether or not the lemon battery was able to work. The control variable for this lab
would have been the initial lemon experiment, as it helps indicate what a single lemon is capable of doing
and it allows us to compare other tests with it.

The results from the experiment showed that the only circuit to work was the one with two lemons and a
potato. While it's entirely possible personal error is responsible for the other test not working, the likely
reason is the other makeshift batteries didn’t have enough voltage to power the LED. Since lemons and
potatoes produce a lower voltage than a commercial battery, it would make sense that one or two on their
own wouldn’t be capable of lighting even a small LED. However when all three of the foods were put
together, they were able to faintly power the LED.

Conclusion Revisit and summarize the findings. Writing of conclusions using CLEAR format (Claim, Lead-
in, Evidence, Analysis, Repeat (of the evidence and analysis steps)):

Only when put together do two lemons and a potatoe* have enough voltage to power an LED. This
conclusion was reached after doing multiple tests involving makeshift food batteries. The foods were ideal
to use for a battery as they acidic internal pHs made it ideal for conducting electricity. Out of all the tests
conducted, the only one to work was the one involving two lemons and a potato. This is due to the weak
voltage a single lemon/potato produces on their own. Only when enough of them are put together is the
LED able to be powered. The third test conducted shows why the addition of the potato was not the
determining factor in the LED lighting. In the test, a lemon and a potato were put together to attempt to
power the LED. This however failed, similar to the test involving two lemons. The fact that the makeshift
battery was even able to work is a testament to the acidic internal environment the lemons contain. The
pH for lemon juice is between 2 and 3, making it firmly acidic. However, a standard commercial battery has
a pH of 1, which could help explain why the battery did not work with a single lemon.

*Hey look, I’m Dan Quayle

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