Produce Batteries
Purpose
The purpose of this experiment is to determine which fruit or vegetable will produce the most volts of electricity.
Hypothesis
If I test a lemon, potato, tomato, and an apple as a battery then I think the lemon will be the best battery and produce the most volts of electricity.
Materials
3 potatoes
3 lemons
3 tomatoes
3 apples
1 multimeter
1 red lead wire
1 black lead wire
1 copper sheet
1 zinc sheet
2 wires
4 alligator clips
Procedure
Data
Variable | Trial 1 | Trial 2 | Trial 3 | Average |
Potato | 1.66V | 1.58V | 1.57V | 1.60V |
Tomato | 1.66V | 1.62V | 1.56V | 1.61V |
Apple | 1.71V | 1.69V | 1.71V | 1.70V |
Lemon | 1.45V | 1.44V | 1.46V | 1.45V |
The apples produced the highest voltage, with an average of 1.70 volts. The tomatoes produced the second highest voltage, with an average of 1.61 volts. The potatoes produced the next highest voltage, with an average of 1.60 volts. The lemons produced the least voltage, with an average of 1.45 volts.
Conclusion
My hypothesis that lemons would produce the most volts of electricity compared to potatoes, tomatoes and apples was incorrect. Based on the results of my experiment, apples are the best battery and produced the most volts of electricity with an average of 1.7 volts over three trials. Lemons were actually the worst produce battery tested, with an average of 1.45 volts. According to the article “Why Do Some Fruits and Vegetables Conduct Electricity?” by Joanna Fantozzi, “The best food battery is any fruit or vegetable that has high levels of superconductive ions, such as potassium or sodium, and the proper internal structure to create a working current.” While lemons contain high amounts of potassium, they don’t work as well as other food batteries because they are segmented inside which can disrupt the current.
Real World Connection
The results of this experiment are useful in the real world because in the future plant based resources may power certain machines and technology. Finding out that apples produce the most volts out of the produce that was tested in this experiment could be useful information. Also, if you didn’t have any power during a storm and ran out of batteries you could use produce to power a small flashlight for a short amount of time. Knowing which fruit or vegetable works best could maximize the amount of time that the flashlight would stay on.
3 apples power a small LED light
3 apples power a digital timer