Answer 1:
In order to answer to your question, let me
take as an example the juice from lemon, which
is an acid. Lemon juice contains something
called electrolytes. An electrolyte is a
substance (like an acid) that when dissolved (as
in water) conducts an electric current.
The acid can't produce electricity by itself, but
it can allow two different metals to react with
each other. When these two different metals
react with each other, one metal gains
electrons, while the other metal loses
electrons.
In order to produce the electricity from an
acidic fruit (like lemon), you need two different
pieces of metal such as Zn (Zinc) and Cu
(Copper) and a conducting wire like Cu
as well. Remember that the acid inside the lemon
juice are chemicals and has chemical energy and it
can serve as the electrolyte. The two
pieces of metal which are in contact with the
acid, are called electrodes. One of the
electrodes will gain electrons and the other will
lose electrons. When you connect the two
electrodes, the electrons will flow along the
conducting wire, then you get the electricity.
This experiment works well with lemon juice,
but not all fruits contain the same amount of
acid. I have never tried another fruit, but you
could experiment for instance with grapefruit.
What you definitely need is an acidic fruit as lemon.
Click Here to return to the search form.
|