CURRICULUM | SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY | ENGINEERING | MATH
“Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of, who do the things no one can imagine.” - Alan Turing
ELECTRICITY LESSON 4
LEMON LIGHT
WARM UP (5 MIN)
In your notebook, always include the date, the lesson title, and do the warm-up task associated to that date.
List 5 foods that you think can be used as a battery
WARM UP DISCUSSION (5 MIN)
Here we will discuss what foods can be used in place of a battery. The goal is to know of at least 5 foods.
LAB: LEMON LIGHT
Purpose: To further understand energy transfer
Materials: lemon, LED, copper wire, nails, alligator clips, multimeter
Procedure:
Step 1: Roll one of the lemons to break up small juice pockets inside of it.
Doing so breaks up small juice pockets inside the lemon. Be careful not to break the skin.
Step 2: Insert the wire into the lemon
Create a small hole using a nail. Insert a wire into the hole, and the nail aligned with the wire on the other end
Step 3: Use the multimeter
Make sure it is set for DC voltage measurement. Put the positive test lead on the wire and the negative test lead on the nail. The voltage on the multimeter should read 1 V.
Step 4: Create other batteries
Repeat steps 1-3 on the other lemons. You should end up with 4 lemon batteries.
Step 5: Connect the lemons
Wrap each lemon’s wire around another lemon’s nail. Remember that the wire is positive and the nail is negative. You should have a train of lemons, leaving lemon 1 with an unconnected nail and lemon 4 with an unconnected wire. Measure the voltage between the two ends. It should be approximately 3.5 to 4 V.
Step 6: Connect the LED to the lemons
Connect the LED using the alligator clips. The long leg goes on the wire, and the shorter one goes on the nail. The LED should now light up!