It is a well-known fact now that the available non-renewable resources, like coal and water, from which electricity is made are fast dwindling and very soon, there will be a severe resources crunch on earth. Hence, scientists from all over the world are trying hard to find alternate renewable sources of energy that can replace thermal and nuclear energies for electricity generation. This will also help in reducing pollution and subsequent global warming and will make earth a better place to live in. It may sound strange but according to the research, potatoes can also be used for producing electricity for running small items like a bulb or a clock. It may not be a substitute for other alternate energy sources but it can definitely help you in running small household items. Read the steps given below to find out how to make electricity from potatoes.
Complexity level: Moderate
Time required: 15-30 minutes
Resources required:
- A fresh potato
- Copper electrode
- Zinc electrode
- A digital or analog multimeter to measure voltage or current of produced electricity
- Crocodile clips/leads
- Flashlight light bulb of 1.2 Volts
- Wires
Instructions:
1. Insert copper and zinc electrodes in potato
- Take a fresh potato and insert copper and zinc electrodes into the potato, ensuring that the electrodes do not touch each other. They must be at least half to one inch away from each other in order to avoid any hassle.
- For making zinc electrode, you can break the shell of a broken AA battery and use it as zinc electrode.
2. Attach crocodile clips to electrodes
- Attach a crocodile clip to each end of the electrode popping out from the potato to make a temporary connection.
3. Connect crocodile clip with a multimeter
- Affix each crocodile clip with a multimeter and monitor the multimeter to ascertain the amount of electricity produced by potato.
- The chances are that the multimeter will show you around 1.2 volts of electricity being produced but the analog multimeter may not show adequate amount of voltage. The reason behind this is the fact that the speed of electricity production is not high enough for an analog meter to show it because the analog meter gets its power from the potato used to show the voltage whereas a digital multimeter gets power from an internal battery and does not use electricity produced by the potato.
Frequently asked questions:
1. On an average, how much electricity does a potato produce?
Around 0.2 volts to 1.2 volts.
2. How are potatoes able to produce electricity?
Potatoes contain phosphoric acid. This phosphoric acid works as an electrolyte and helps in transport of zinc and copper ions in the solution, and keeps the zinc and copper electrodes apart. The phosphoric acid of potatoes facilitates electro-chemical reaction of both the electrodes.
Quick tips:
- Always take a fresh and juicy potato rather than a stale one.
- If you do not have a multimeter, you can use the headphones or earplug for detecting electricity.
- If you connect multiple potato batteries, then you can make enough electricity to light up a diode, which can emit bright light.
- Creating electricity from such household things can be quite exhilarating and it definitely helps in reducing electricity bills. Electricity generated from potato may seem like a drop in the ocean but it will give you pride to run household battery produced by natural things at your own and what else can be a better lesson for you to teach your children how electricity is made.
Things to watch out for:
- If children are conducting this experiment, then adult supervision is strongly recommended.
- Never eat the potato used for the experimentation.
