Lemon-Aided Circuits

In theory, you can use a lemon as a power source to light a light bulb.

In theory.

It's VERY hard to do, but I have tried with several groups of students and had success a couple of times. I thought this class might enjoy giving it a try. And, it does really bring home the importance of having a complete circuit in order to let the energy flow.

I gathered the materials (wire strippers, nails, light bulbs, wires, pennies, and lemons, of course!) and spread them out on the table.

After reading through the lab sheet and procedure, the children came and got their supplies.

I have been told that you can also do this experiment using potatoes, but I have not tried that.

The first step is to roll and squeeze the lemon to loosen the juice and fibers inside.

Then you carefully poke two holes in the skin.

A nail is inserted in one hole...

... and a penny in the other.

The nails were so big they made the kids laugh. (Me, too!)

The next step was to strip the ends of the wires and attach one to the penny and the other to the nail.

By this time, the classroom was smelling like lemonade and summer!

Connecting the wire to the penny was the hardest step as the wire easily slid off.

Circuit completed. But no light. Drat!!

These gals connected three lemons to each other in their circuit, hoping to increase the energy flowing and thus lighting their bulb. But that didn't work, either.

One group did actually get a brief flicker of light, but eventually we ran out of time and had to clean up the experiment before anyone else had success.