lemon electricity A lemon battery is a simple battery often made for the purpose of education. Typically, a piece of zinc metal (such as a galvanized nail) and a piece of copper (such as a penny) are inserted into a lemon and connected by wires. Power generated by reaction of the metals is used to power a small device such as a light emitting diode (LED).

The lemon battery is similar to the first electrical battery invented in 1800 by Alessandro Volta, who used brine (salt water) instead of lemon juice.[1] The lemon battery illustrates the type of chemical reaction (oxidation-reduction) that occurs in batteries.[2][3][4] The zinc and copper are called the electrodes, and the juice inside the lemon is called the electrolyte. There are many variations of the lemon cell that use different fruits (or liquids) as electrolytes and metals other than zinc and copper as electrodes.

There are numerous sets of instructions for making lemon batteries and for obtaining components such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), electrical meters (multimeters), and zinc-coated (galvanized) nails and screws.[5][6] Commercial "potato clock" science kits include electrodes and a low-voltage digital clock. After one cell is assemble voltage available to devices. Swartling and Morgan have published a list of low-voltage devices along with the corred, a multimeter can be used to measure the voltage or the electric current from the voltaic cell; a typical voltage is 0.9 V with lemons. Currents are more variable, but range up to about 1 mA. For a more visible effect, lemon cells can be connected in series to power an LED (see illustration) or other devices. The series connection increases the voltage available to devices. Swartling and Morgan have published a list of low-voltage devices along with the corresponding number of lemon cells that were needed to power them; they included LEDs, piezeoele It is possible to get electricity from a lemon (and a few other acidic fruits and vegetables) using two strips of metal. The most readily available combination is copper and zinc. The zinc piece can be taken from the casing of an old carbon "D" cell (battery); some zinc coated nails may work as well. The copper can be a coin containing a high amount of copper. (Note: some recent copper coins, including the newer U.S. pennies, contain low amounts of copper mixed with zinc. If in doubt, use a pure copper strip.) They are stuck into the lemon, and wires are attached to each one. The wires should be attached securely to form a good electrical contact. If the other ends of the wires are attached to a small light bulb (flashlight bulb) there should be sufficient current to light it. Note that the metal pieces should be clean, and that they should not touch inside the lemon.

The electric current comes from the chemical reaction between the acid in the lemon and the zinc. Positively charged hydrogen in the acid oxidizes the zinc, causing electrons to flow from the zinc to the acid. In the process, some of the hydrogen in the acid is reduced to hydrogen gas.The copper merely completes the circuit

ctric buzzers, and small digital clocks. With the zinc/copper electrodes, at least two lemon cells were needed for any of these devices.[7] Substituting a magnesium electrode for the zinc electrode makes a cell with a larger voltage (1.5−1.6 V), and a single magnesium/copper cell will power some devices.[7] Note that incandescent light bulbs from flashlights are not used because the lemon battery is not designed to produce enough electric current to light them. By multiplying the average current of a lemon (0.001A/ 1mA) by the average (lowest) voltage (potential difference) of a lemon (0.7V) we can conclude that it would take more than 6 million lemons to give us the power of an average 4320W car battery.