There is an electric boom in our family right now. Our dad collects daytime running lights for a car, Vladik and I do experiments with static electricity. Makar plays with his favorite toys, many of which are powered by batteries. And we were interested in the question of how to make a battery with your own hands. After searching for information on the Internet, we found out that you can make a battery out of potatoes. They decided not to stop at one vegetable, but conducted research on apples, cucumbers, lemons, onions and tomatoes.

To make a battery from vegetables and fruits we will need:

• vegetables fruits,
• zinc nails,
• copper nails or pieces of copper wire,
• wires with clamps,
• Light-emitting diode,
• multimeter

1. Using potatoes as an example, let’s look at how and what to do. You need to stick a nail and a copper nail into the potato. I couldn't find any copper nails, so I made lengths of thick copper wire.
2. Next, use alligator clips to attach the wires to the nails. The free ends of the wire are connected to a measuring device (in our case, a multimeter), which shows the voltage occurring at the ends of the conductor.

We will group the measurement data. So, experimental vegetables and fruits give the following voltage (V):

• apple - 0.968,
• tomato - 0.867,
• cucumber - 0.829,
• onion - 0.832,
• lemon - 0.815,
• potatoes - 0.874.

In the group of our vegetables (fruits), the leader in the voltage obtained was the apple, and the lemon was lagging behind.

Of course, we did not create such structures simply to measure voltage. Our goal is to make a battery, that is, an energy source that can make our LED shine.

We received an LED from our dad, but we didn’t know what voltage was needed for it to start shining. We began to experiment with every vegetable and fruit. We came to the conclusion that they are very weak sources of energy. But this can be improved a little.

To still get light, we collected necklace made of tomatoes, nails and wires.

How to make a battery from vegetables

To do this, each of the tomatoes was a nail was inserted, to which a piece of thin copper wire was attached at one end. The other end of the wire was stuck into the vegetable. The result was a serial connection, which we called a necklace. A chain of six tomatoes produced a voltage of 2.68 V. This was enough to light up small LED.

My husband didn’t really believe in us, but we did it! Of course, ideas immediately arose to create such a chain that would lead to the glow of a real light bulb! I think that for this we will need about 400 vegetables (fruits), it will be cheaper to use potatoes. I am sure that we will definitely return to this idea when we go to our grandparents (there is room for our imagination to run wild).

There are so many interesting things around, it’s worth stopping for a moment, taking a closer look and trying! It doesn’t always work out as planned or as written in the book, but you can’t give up! Try one way or another, but be sure to try and want to.

I began to teach this to my eldest son. Previously, at the slightest failure, he gave up, but now he strives for results even in unusual situations. Once I tried to put sandals on woolen socks (I don’t know for what purpose). I said that he wouldn’t succeed, to which I received in response: “If you really want to, you will definitely succeed.”

To conduct experiments with static electricity you can and should involve your dad, uncle or grandfather. Men's help will be quite helpful. And these experiments will be of interest to everyone, boys and girls. You've already seen that science is fun. If you agree, then keep from me as a GIFT a portion of ideas for conducting experiments in your home laboratory. I love water and give you a wonderful collection of experiments with water. Let's do fun science together. Send photos from your laboratory and write in the comments what you liked most. See you soon, friends. And remember, science is fun!

Happy experimenting! Science is fun!

How to do electric generator from potatoes

Making a potato battery

Right away, I want to warn my friends that this experience of homemade people is rather a joke. But, judging by the reviews, get electric spark and set fire to a piece of cotton wool electric generator made from potatoes it really is possible. Of course, I haven’t tried this myself and I can’t even imagine what this product could be useful for.

Although, if you run out of matches, but you have potatoes, as well as two wires, two toothpicks, salt, toothpaste, a knife and a teaspoon, then you can probably light a fire.

So, we strip the wires and cut the potato into two halves. We pierce one half of the potato with wires, and in the other half we make a hole with a teaspoon, the size of the spoon itself. Next, mix the toothpaste with salt, we don’t know in what proportions, try it yourself, and fill the hole in the potato with this mixture. Now let's bend with inside Wire the first half of the potato so that when connecting both halves they fall into the hole with the mixture. We connect the halves and fasten them with toothpicks.

Here you go, potato electric generator ready and…ready to use. To get fire from this “miracle of technical thought,” you need to wrap a piece of cotton wool around one end of the wire. Wait two or three minutes for the “structure” to charge, and bring both wires close to each other until a spark appears. Of course, this is eighth grade physics, but it’s still interesting.

By the way, there is an opinion that not all toothpaste can be suitable, but only the one that contains alcohol or contains fluoride. Salt, when mixed with such toothpaste, forms an electrolyte, which contributes to the generation of sufficient heat for a spark to appear.

However, there is another method related to the extraction of electricity from potatoes. You need to insert two stripped wires, one copper 1.0-2.0 mm, 30-40 mm long, and the other zinc, into the potato and... the bio battery is ready. Its energy should be enough to . In principle, other vegetables and fruits containing weak acid solutions will also be suitable for creating such a “device.”

From these natural energy sources you can easily make a similar simple galvanic cell, the performance of which can be checked with a conventional galvanometer.

If someone becomes interested in these “vegetable batteries” and decides to conduct “ scientific experiment“Please let me know in the comments whether you succeeded or not. Believe me, the result will be interesting not only to me.

Surely many of you from the physics course remember or have heard that you can get a little electricity from ordinary potatoes, and not only from them.

What is needed for this, and is it possible to light a low-power flashlight, an LED clock powered by 1-2V round batteries, or make a radio work in this way? Yes and no, let's take a closer look.

Where does electricity come from in potatoes?

To understand that voltage from potatoes is not a fiction, but a very real thing, just stick sharp probes from a multimeter into one single potato and you will immediately see several millivolts on the screen.

If you complicate the design a little, for example, insert a copper electrode or a bronze coin into the tuber on one side, and something aluminum or galvanized on the other side, then the voltage level will increase significantly.

Potato juice contains dissolved salts and acids, which are essentially a natural electrolyte.

By the way, you can use lemons, oranges, and apples for this with equal success. Thus, all these products can power not only people, but also electrical appliances.

Inside such fruits and vegetables, due to oxidation, electrons will leak from the immersed anode (galvanized contact). And they will be attracted to another contact - copper.

However, do not be confused, electricity here is not generated directly from potatoes. It works well thanks to chemical processes between three elements:

• zinc

• copper

• acid

And it is the zinc contact that serves as a consumable. All electrons flow away from it. Under certain conditions, even earthen soil can produce electricity. The main condition is its acidity.

You stick two sticks (of course, made of zinc and copper) into the ground and measure the voltage. Sometimes the potential difference reaches 0.2V. At wet soil the result improves.

This is the so-called earth battery.

Assembling a battery from potatoes

So, here's what you need to assemble a more or less capacitive battery:

Several pieces, since one will not be of much use.

The larger the cross-section, the better.

The nails will play the main role in generating electricity for the flashlight.

• galvanized - this is the negative contact (anode)

• copper-plated - this is a plus (cathode)

If used instead of galvanized simple nails, then you will lose up to 40-50% in tension. But as an option, it will still work.

The same applies to the application aluminum wire instead of nails. At the same time, increasing the distance between the electrodes in one potato does not play a special role.

Take it copper wires(mono core) with a cross-section of 1.5-2.5mm2, length 10-15cm. You strip them of insulation and tie them to a nail.

It is best, of course, to solder, then the voltage loss will be much less.

One copper nail on one side of the wire, and a galvanized nail on the other.

In this case, different nails are stuck into each tuber, from different pairs of wires. That is, you must have one zinc contact and one copper contact plugged into each potato.

Different tubers are connected to each other only through nails from various materials- copper+zinc - copper+zinc, etc.

Voltage measurements

Let's say you have three potatoes, and you connected them together in the manner described above. To find out what voltage you get, use a multimeter.

Switch it to the DC voltage measurement mode and connect the measuring probes to the conductors of the outermost potatoes, i.e. to the initial positive contact (copper) and the final negative contact (zinc).

Even with three medium-sized potatoes you can get almost 1.5 Volts.

If you reduce all transition resistances to the maximum, and for this:

• apply soldering to the contacts

then only 4 potatoes can produce up to 12 volts!

If your cheap flashlight is powered by three AA batteries, then you will need about 5 volts to light it successfully. That is, when using conventional wires, you need at least three times more potatoes.

To do this, by the way, it is not necessary to look for additional tubers; it is enough to cut the existing ones into several parts with a knife. Then do the same procedure with the wires and studs.

Insert one galvanized and one copper nail in succession into each cut tuber. As a result, it is quite possible to obtain a constant voltage of more than 5.5V.

Is it theoretically possible to get 5 volts from one single potato and at the same time ensure that the entire assembly is no larger in size? AA battery? It is possible and very easy.

Cut small pieces of the core from the potato and place them between flat electrodes, such as coins made of different metals (bronze, zinc, aluminum).

As a result, you should end up with something like a sandwich. Even one piece of such an assembly can produce up to 0.5V!

And if you put several of them together, then the required value of up to 5V can easily be obtained at the output.

Current strength

It would seem that everything is achieved, the goal is achieved, and all that remains is to find a way to connect the wiring to the power contacts of the flashlight or LEDs.

However, having gone through this procedure and assembled a rather weak structure from several potatoes, you will be very disappointed with the final result.

Low-power LEDs will of course glow, after all, you still received voltage. However, the brightness level of their glow will be catastrophically dim. Why is this happening?

Because, unfortunately, such a galvanic element produces a negligibly low current. It will be so small that not even all multimeters can measure it.

Someone will think that since there is not enough current, they need to add more potatoes and everything will work out. Here's a video experiment using 400s! potatoes and connecting them to a 110-volt LED light bulb.

Of course, a significant increase in tubers will increase the operating voltage.

At serial connection tens and hundreds of potatoes, the voltage will increase, but the most important thing will not be there - sufficient capacity to increase the current.

And this whole design will not be rationally suitable.

A practical way with boiled potatoes

But still, is there a simple way to increase the power of such a battery and reduce its size? Yes, I have.

For example, if you use boiled rather than raw potatoes for this purpose, then the power of such a source of electricity increases several times!

To assemble a convenient compact design, use the case from an old C (R14) or D (R20) battery.

Remove all contents inside (of course, except for the graphite rod).

Instead of filling, fill the entire space with boiled potatoes.

Then reassemble the battery structure in reverse order.

The zinc part of the body of the old battery plays a significant role here.

The total area of ​​the inner walls turns out to be much larger than just sticking cloves into raw potatoes.

Hence the greater power and efficiency.

One such power source will easily produce almost 1.5 volts, just like a small AA battery.

But the most important thing for us is not volts, but milliamps. So, such a “cooked” modernization is capable of providing a current of up to 80 mA.

These batteries can power a receiver or an electronic LED clock.

Moreover, the entire assembly will work not for seconds, but for several minutes (up to ten). More batteries and potatoes, more battery life.

There are many ways to get electric current. Among them, a special place is occupied by fruits and vegetables, physical and Chemical properties which make it relatively easy to perform this operation. The easiest way to get electricity from potatoes is without leaving own kitchen. In addition to the tubers themselves, you will need various metal objects, which are components improvised galvanic cell. The most important thing is to follow the order of actions and strictly adhere to the assembly diagram.

Where does electricity come from in potatoes?

Under certain conditions, it is quite possible to produce electricity from potatoes, fruits and vegetables. The results are clearly demonstrated on the multimeter display. This current is enough to light an LED or a small battery-powered device. Such current sources are not designed for anything more.

Efficiency homemade battery will be higher if you comply technical specifications and rules:

• If identical metal electrodes are replaced different materials, in this case the voltage will increase noticeably. Typically, zinc is used for the cathode and copper for the anode.
• The efficiency of the potato element increases with increasing electrode area.
• Zinc is taken from an old battery. This is a glass with an installed galvanic element. If you don’t have a battery, you can take an ordinary galvanized nail, screw and other similar fastening material.
• Copper for the anode can be taken from cable cores or using copper nails and other fasteners.

The assembled element based on copper and zinc will produce electricity from potatoes with a voltage of at least 0.5-0.7 volts. The integrity of the potato does not matter, the most important thing is that the internal juice is preserved.

Physicochemical processes in potatoes proceed as follows. An acidic environment is formed on the surface of the anode, where the redox reaction takes place. During oxidation, free electrons are released, leaving two zinc atoms. Copper is a very strong oxidizing agent and attracts all free electrons to itself. If the circuit is closed by connecting a multimeter or a light bulb, electrons will begin to move in the direction from the anode to the cathode, that is, an electric current will appear in the electrolytic medium.

The electrolyte itself consists of a weak acid-salt solution contained in potato juice inside the tuber. During the reaction, zinc is consumed and the size of the electrode decreases. Potato tubers themselves serve only as a kind of storage for electrolytic juice. This whole operation has value only from a theoretical or cognitive point of view, and practical use she didn't receive it.

Methods for generating electricity

The so-called potato electricity can be obtained in other ways. Current can be produced, for example, using a plate element. A flat piece is cut and installed between the copper and zinc plates. Alloys of these metals can be used if it is not possible to obtain them locally pure form. Copper plates are made from coins, and zinc plates are made from flat galvanized washers of the same diameter. Such elements are compact in size and can be easily assembled into a common potato battery.

If there is too little energy in one copper-zinc potato element, then the problem of how to obtain more current can be solved by connecting several such parts in series. As a result, the battery voltage will increase significantly. This circuit involves connecting the positive pole of one element and the negative pole of another element.

The wires located at the edges will play the role of plus and minus for the entire battery. The value of the total voltage will be the sum of the emf of all elements connected to each other. Thus, even two elements connected in series make it possible to obtain electricity from potatoes in the amount of as much as 1.5 volts, comparable to ordinary AA batteries.

How to make a potato battery

To make a potato battery, a parallel connection circuit is used. The currents of each element are summed up. All positive poles are connected into a common plus and negative poles into a common minus. All electricity in total will be the values ​​of individual currents combined parallel circuit. The voltage is equal to the average voltage value of each individual element.

There are also combined schemes generating electricity, combining options. This makes it possible to significantly increase maximum values current and voltage of the potato battery. The resulting design is considered fully functional and electricity from potatoes can charge a telephone battery in an emergency. It all depends on the number of tubers involved in the chain.

More high efficiency have boiled potato tubers. During heat treatment organic matter is destroyed and electrical resistance juice is significantly reduced. A plate battery made from boiled potatoes at home is more powerful than one made from raw tubers.

June 7th, 2018

Once on desert island, a modern Robinson could not deny himself the pleasure of using a player, a smartphone or a flashlight, provided that he knew how to extract electricity from coconuts and bananas.

Surely many of you from the physics course remember or have heard that you can get a little electricity from ordinary potatoes, and not only from them.
What is needed for this, and is it possible to light a low-power flashlight, an LED clock powered by 1-2V round batteries, or make a radio work in this way?

And, yes and no, let's take a closer look.

To understand that voltage from potatoes is not a fiction, but a very real thing, just stick sharp probes from a multimeter into one single potato and you will immediately see several millivolts on the screen.

If you complicate the design a little, for example, insert a copper electrode or a bronze coin into the tuber on one side, and something aluminum or galvanized on the other side, then the voltage level will increase significantly.

Potato juice contains dissolved salts and acids, which are essentially a natural electrolyte.

By the way, you can use lemons, oranges, and apples for this with equal success. Thus, all these products can power not only people, but also electrical appliances.

Inside such fruits and vegetables, due to oxidation, electrons will leak from the immersed anode (galvanized contact). And they will be attracted to another contact - copper. However, do not be confused, electricity here is not generated directly from potatoes. It is well produced precisely thanks to chemical processes between three elements:

• acid

And it is the zinc contact that serves as a consumable. All electrons flow away from it. Under certain conditions, even earthen soil can produce electricity. The main condition is its acidity.

Ground battery

Increased soil acidity is a problem for agronomists, but a joy for electrical engineers. The content of hydrogen and aluminum ions in the soil allows you to literally stick two sticks (as usual, zinc and copper) into the pot and generate electricity. Our result is 0.2 V. To improve the result, the soil should be watered.

It is important to understand: electricity is not generated from lemons or potatoes. This is not the same energy at all chemical bonds in organic molecules, which is absorbed by our body as a result of food consumption. Electricity comes from chemical reactions with the participation of zinc, copper and acid, and in our battery it is the nail that serves as a consumable material.

Assembling a battery from potatoes

So, here's what you need to assemble a more or less capacitive battery:

Potatoes, several pieces, since one will not be of much use.

Copper, preferably single-core wires, the larger the cross-section, the better.

Galvanized and copper nails or screws (you can just use wire).

Nails will play the main role in generating electricity for the flashlight; galvanized nails are the negative contact (anode), copper plated ones are the positive contact (cathode).

If you use simple nails instead of galvanized ones, you will lose up to 40-50% in voltage. But as an option, it will still work.

The same applies to using aluminum wire instead of nails. At the same time, increasing the distance between the electrodes in one potato does not play a special role.

Take copper wires (mono core) with a cross section of 1.5-2.5 mm2, 10-15 cm long. You strip them of insulation and tie them to a nail.

It is best, of course, to solder, then the voltage loss will be much less.

One copper nail on one side of the wire, and a galvanized nail on the other.

Next, lay out the potatoes and stick nails into them one by one. In this case, different nails are stuck into each tuber, from different pairs of wires. That is, you must have one zinc contact and one copper contact plugged into each potato.

Different tubers are connected to each other only through nails made of different materials - copper + zinc - copper + zinc, etc.

Voltage measurements

Let's say you have three potatoes, and you connected them together in the manner described above. To find out what voltage you get, use a multimeter.

Switch it to the DC voltage measurement mode and connect the measuring probes to the conductors of the outermost potatoes, i.e. to the initial positive contact (copper) and the final negative contact (zinc).

Even with three medium-sized potatoes you can get almost 1.5 Volts.

If you reduce all transition resistances to the maximum, and for this:

• use not a nail as a copper electrode, but the very wire with which the circuit is assembled


• apply soldering to the contacts

then only 4 potatoes can produce up to 12 volts!

If your cheap flashlight is powered by three AA batteries, then you will need about 5 volts to light it successfully. That is, when using conventional wires, you need at least three times more potatoes.

To do this, by the way, it is not necessary to look for additional tubers; it is enough to cut the existing ones into several parts with a knife. Then do the same procedure with the wires and studs.

Insert one galvanized and one copper nail in succession into each cut tuber. As a result, it is quite possible to obtain a constant voltage of more than 5.5V.

Is it theoretically possible to get 5 volts from one single potato and at the same time ensure that the entire assembly is no larger in size than a AA battery? It is possible and very easy.

Cut small pieces of the core from the potato and place them between flat electrodes, such as coins made of different metals (bronze, zinc, aluminum).

As a result, you should end up with something like a sandwich. Even one piece of such an assembly can produce up to 0.5V!
And if you put several of them together, then the required value of up to 5V can easily be obtained at the output.

Current strength

It would seem that everything is achieved, the goal is achieved, and all that remains is to find a way to connect the wiring to the power contacts of the flashlight or LEDs.

However, having gone through this procedure and assembled a rather weak structure from several potatoes, you will be very disappointed with the final result.
Low-power LEDs will of course glow, after all, you still received voltage. However, the brightness level of their glow will be catastrophically dim. Why is this happening?

Because, unfortunately, such a galvanic element produces a negligibly low current. It will be so small that not even all multimeters can measure it.

Someone will think that since there is not enough current, they need to add more potatoes and everything will work out.

Of course, a significant increase in tubers will increase the operating voltage.

When tens or hundreds of potatoes are connected in series, the voltage will increase, but the most important thing will not be there - sufficient capacity to increase the current.

And this whole design will not be rationally suitable.

A practical way with boiled potatoes

But still, is there a simple way to increase the power of such a battery and reduce its size? Yes, I have.

For example, if you use boiled rather than raw potatoes for this purpose, then the power of such a source of electricity increases several times!

To assemble a convenient compact design, use the case from an old C (R14) or D (R20) battery.

Remove all contents inside (of course, except for the graphite rod).

Instead of filling, fill the entire space with boiled potatoes.

Then reassemble the battery structure in reverse order.

The zinc part of the body of the old battery plays a significant role here.

The total area of ​​the inner walls turns out to be much larger than just sticking cloves into raw potatoes.

Hence the greater power and efficiency.

One such power source will easily produce almost 1.5 volts, just like a small AA battery.

But the most important thing for us is not volts, but milliamps. So, such a “cooked” modernization is capable of providing a current of up to 80 mA.

These batteries can power a receiver or an electronic LED clock.

Moreover, the entire assembly will work not for seconds, but for several minutes (up to ten). More batteries and potatoes, more battery life.

lemon battery

Vinegar battery. An ice cube tray will help you construct a multi-cell battery using vinegar as the electrolyte. Use galvanized screws and copper wire as electrodes. Filling the battery with vinegar and connecting it to it LED lamp, try gradually adding and stirring table salt in the cells: the brightness of the glow will increase before your eyes.

Juicy fruits, new potatoes and others food products can serve as food not only for people, but also for electrical appliances. To generate electricity from them, you will need a galvanized nail or screw (that is, almost any nail or screw) and a piece of copper wire. To detect the presence of electricity, we need a household multimeter, and it will help us demonstrate success more clearly LED lamp or even a fan powered by batteries.

Mash the lemon in your hands to destroy it. internal partitions, but do not damage the peel. Insert a nail (screw) and copper wire so that the electrodes are located as close to each other as possible, but do not touch. The closer the electrodes are, the less likely it is that they will be separated by a partition inside the fruit. In turn, the better the ion exchange between the electrodes inside the battery, the greater its power.

The essence of the experiment is to place copper and zinc electrodes in an acidic environment, be it lemon or a bath of vinegar. The nail will serve as our negative electrode, or anode. copper wire Let's assign it as a positive electrode, or cathode.

In an acidic environment, an oxidation reaction occurs on the surface of the anode, during which free electrons are released. Each zinc atom loses two electrons. Copper is a strong oxidizing agent and can attract electrons released by zinc. If you close an electrical circuit (connect a light bulb or multimeter to an improvised battery), electrons will flow from the anode to the cathode through it, that is, electricity will appear in the circuit.