Answer 1:
There is no electricity naturally within a lemon
—the electricity comes from a chemical reaction
that occurs when you put metal inside the
lemon.
When you use a lemon to make a battery, you
insert two different kinds of metal into the
lemon, usually zinc and copper, and connect each
of these metals by wires to a light bulb. The
zinc metal then reacts with the acidic
solution (you know it’s acidic because the
lemon tastes sour), and dissolves. As the zinc
dissolves, it creates an electrical current in the
wire which passes through the light bulb and
causes the bulb to shine.
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Answer 2:
The lemon is there only to allow flow of atoms
between the two metal pieces. In order to
work, one metal has to combine to form a salt with
the acid in the lemon while the other is reduced
to a more active state. This cause current to flow
between the two metal pieces through the light
bulb, which lights up the bulb.
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