Currents in the Kitchen

PRE LAB

Purpose question: Which fruit will produce the most electric voltage?

Hypothesis: When we measure the voltages, the oranges and the lemons will produce the most electric voltage.

Materials: 1 voltmeter, 2 wires, 1 nail, 1 copper strip and at least 3 fruits/vegetables. (More if needed)

Procedure:

1. Grab your fruits or veggies.
2. Stick in your nail and copper strip into your fruit/veggie.
3. Clip on one of the wires to nail, and the other to the copper.
4. Attach the wire connected to the copper to the red cap, and the nail, to any of the others.
5. Once all the wires are connected, you should have a voltage, try using different fruits and vegetables to find the highest voltage.

Reasoning (Hypothesis): I think that citrus fruits have the most energy, because they are high in vitamin C and I was taught that as a kid if I can remember properly.

WRITE UP

Observations:

• The fruits got really mushy because of sticking the nails and copper inside.
• If we placed the wire on some rust on the copper, the voltage wasn’t as high because the rust was blocking the energy flow.
• When we tried to light up the LED, one of the wires were broken and we couldn’t achieve our goal.
• We added more copper to one of the fruits and the voltage went up.
• We connected the wires wrong at one point and it messed up the flow.

Conclusion: In conclusion, we can get energy from fruits and vegetables when we need it. In my hypothesis, I said that the citrus fruits were going to have the most electric voltage, but I was wrong, the banana and potatoes had more and not the oranges and lemons. The purpose question was “Which fruit will produce the most electric voltage?”, the answer to that is the potatoes and bananas, they had the same voltage of 0.6 in our measuring.

What is causing electrons to flow in this experiment? With the wires connected, the electrons are passing through the copper strip into the fruits or vegetables and out the nail into the next wire.

Independent variable: The fruits and vegetables

Dependent variable: The electric voltage.

Controlled variable: The voltmeter and the nails and copper.

How can we modify our experiment to improve our results: I think we could’ve used fruits and vegetables with more energy to make the experiment easier, I also think we could’ve tried more things than we had to make the LED light up.

What could be sources of error or uncertainty in our experiment? Some sources of error were the broken wires that we were trying to use, and that we connected the wires to the wrong piece of metal.

How can I use this in my everyday life? I could use this if I ever needed to light an LED light or if I needed energy for any reason. I could use fruits and vegetables to create the energy and voltages. Like if the power went out unexpectedly in your house.