Science Projects Index

Making a Lemon Battery

Get a zinc strip. You can get it by removing it from an old torch battery. Ask an adult to break open an old battery. Take out the zinc strip that is the outer casting and clean it with sandpaper and then wash it nicely. Wash your hands also nicely. After drying the zinc strip cut a small portion of it and insert it into a juicy lemon. At a distance of about 5-mm from the strip insert an iron nail or a copper tube into the same lemon. Now bring the lemon near your tongue and allow your tongue to touch both the nail and the zinc strip so that your tongue becomes a sort of bridge between the nail and the strip. You will experience a strange tingle in your tongue. This is because the lemon is acting as a battery and your tongue has completed the circuit.