Investigating a Lemon Battery – Year 9 Practical Investigation

Name:
Partners:
Aim: To investigate lemon batteries.
Materials:
 2-4 lemons
 Microammeter
 2-4 galvanised nails
 2-4 pieces of thin copper strip or uninsulated copper wire
 3-5 connecting leads

Method:
1. Roll 2 lemons on a table while pushing down on them a little. The squeezing action releases the juice inside the
lemon and makes the battery work better.
2. Insert half the galvanized nail into each of the two lemons.
3. Insert half the piece of copper strip or copper wire into each of the two lemons. Important: The galvanised nail
and copper strip/wire should be about 2cm apart.
4. Use the connecting leads to connect the copper strip to the positive terminal of the ammeter and the galvanised
nail to the negative terminal of the ammeter.
5. Record the electric current – this is the measure of the flow of charge, measured in amperes (A).
6. Observe what happens to the electric current when you make the following changes:
a. Push the electrodes further into the lemon. Record your results.
b. Increase the distance between the nail and the copper wire. Record your results.
c. Add another one or two lemons. Record your results.

Results:
Record the current for step 5 and then for the changes in steps 6a, b and c of your method.

Electric current was at max reading for the ammeter, this continued to occur when the metals were pushed further into
the lemons when they were separated.

There was a decrease in current when multiple lemons were spread out and connected.

Evaluation:
1. Propose why you need different metals for the battery to work.

The copper wants electrons more then zinc does and if you used the same metals, it would be neutral.
 2. Identify the function of the lemon juice/acid in this lemon battery.

The lemon juice creates a chemical reaction that oxidases the zinc which frees the electrons to flow through the copper.

3. Describe what happened when the depth of the electrodes and the distance between the electrodes was
changed. How did it affect the current produced by your lemon battery?

Nothing changed because the ammeter didn’t go high enough. It would’ve gone higher if the ammeter was stronger.

4. How did changing the number of lemons affect the current produced by your lemon battery?

Changing the number lemons didn’t affect the current.

5. Propose why lemon batteries are not used in everyday life.

We don’t use it in everyday life because they do not produce enough electricity.

6. Identify any potential faults with the experiment and suggest how you may overcome them.

A more diverse ammeter with different readings would help us see the changes more.

Conclusion:
1. Make a claim from this experiment regarding the electrical properties of lemon batteries. Support this statement
with observation from your results and science learnt in class.

Created a current using a lemon battery. Saw that when we put zinc and copper into the lemon a current was detected.
This occurred due to the chemical reaction between the zinc and the lemon juice (acid) and the electrons passing to the
copper.