What makes a potato create electricity

The liquid in a potato can act as the electrolyte and generate electricity between two electrodes. This experiment teaches students about chemical reactions and electricity and encourages observational and analytic skills. Formulate your hypothesis.

Can a potato produce electricity? Why or why not? What makes a battery work? Insert the copper and zinc electrodes into the potato so that they are close together but not touching. Connect one lead to the copper electrode with a clip, then connect the other end to the multimeter. But when you connect the wires and pennies — WOW! It creates energy! Learn More. Partner with us! Author: wendy. Related posts. How to create volunteer and registration signups for your Fair December 13, The Heart of Effective Mentors March 16, Join us at CO Impact Days !

February 22, You could also use other electrodes, like magnesium or iron. But potato advocates must surmount another problem before their idea catches on: consumer perception of potatoes. Compared with modern technologies like solar power, potatoes are perhaps less desirable as an energy source.

Gaurav Manchanda, founder of One Degree Solar, which sells micro-solar home systems in Kenya, says people buy their products for more reasons than efficiency and price. Basically, some people might not want to show off their potato battery to impress a neighbor. Still, it cannot be denied that the potato battery idea works, and it appears cheap. Advocates of potato power will no doubt continue to keep chipping away.

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Share using Email. By Jonathan Kalan 12th November The finished device Rabinowitch came up with is designed so that a new boiled potato slice can be inserted in between the electrodes after the potato runs out of juice.

Alligator clips that transport the current carrying wires are attached to the electrodes and the negative and positive input points of the light bulb. Despite the advantages, a recent BBC report that followed up on the group's initial discovery found that the group has since been beset with a number of extenuating circumstances that have hindered their efforts to scale up their idea to places like villages in off-the-grid parts in Africa and India. Economically speaking, food-based energy systems can only be viable as long as they don't eat into the needed food supply and that such enterprises don't compete with farmers who grow them for market.

The technology is also having a difficult time establishing a niche among more fashionable forms of alternative energy like solar and wind power, where infrastructure and investment seems to be headed mostly.

Thus far, no commercial investors or non-profit organization has stepped up to help expand or distribute any of the prototypes Rabinowitch has developed.