The 5th and 6th grade students have been studying electricity and learning how a battery triggers the electrons’ flow in a circuit to light up a load or a light.
Students created their own batteries:
- Lemon battery using zinc nails and pennies
- Citrus fruit battery using galvanized nails and copper nails
- Penny battery using zinc washers, copper pennies, and vinegar
- Coca-Cola battery using a copper and aluminum strips
Only the penny battery was able to produce enough volts to light up a light, but Phillip saved the day. He brought a voltmeter from home which they used to measure the volts produced. The batteries that weren’t strong enough to light an LED still produced volts that could be measured on the voltmeter.
The coin battery was taken home, and five days later was still functioning.
Next on their agenda is the study of sound and light!
