Not-So Shocking Chemistry

Today, we're going to find a way to shock (maybe) your friends.

What we're making today - a wet cell battery. 
Wet cells were used before batteries as we know it now were invented.

List of Supplies:

• Lemon juice (fresh lemons or a bottle of lemon juice OK)
• Paper towels (cut into small pieces. Not too much bigger than the coins)
• Bowls (one small and one big enough to hold the juicer)
• Coins (equal number of nickels and pennies). I used 15 coins each.
• Multimeter*
• Lemon/citrus juicer (optional)

Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into a small bowl.

Soak the pieces of paper towel in the lemon juice.

Begin to stack coins, starting with a penny and alternate between nickels and pennies.

Measure the voltage between the coins (2 sets of pennies and nickels). 

The multimeter reads 190 micro volts. 

Try to measure the voltage readings. 4, 8, 12 and 15 sets of coins 

or 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 sets of coins.

This is one of the reading for 15 sets of pennies and nickels.

My voltage readings were as follows:

• 4 sets of coins, 190 micro volts
• 8 sets of coins, 206 micro volts
• 12 sets of coins, 303 micro volts
• 15 sets of coins, 530 micro volts

I noticed that the longer I hold the leads to my coin battery, the higher the voltage readings. I had 12 set of coins read higher than 530 micro volts when I held the leads against the coins for over 45 seconds. The above readings were what I got within 10 seconds of holding the leads to the coin battery.

Theoretically, when you touch the ends of your coin stack with your fingers, you should feel a mild shock, but I didn't feel anything. Maybe I did something differently? Maybe you'll feel something. I don't know.

Science Notes:

•  The two types of coins have different electrical charges in their atoms.

1. Nickel (anode) is electron rich, which means it's negatively charged.
2. Copper (cathode) is electron poor, which means it's positively charged. 
3. The electrons will flow from Nickel to Copper coins and create an electric circuit.

• Lemon juice, which is a weak acid, conducts an electric current between the two different coins.
• By stacking coins on top of one another, we’re increasing the electric voltage of our wet cell battery. So, this explains why when we have 15 sets of coins should give us the highest voltage reading.

Notes on multimeter:

You can purchase one from Harbor Freight for $5.99, but if you have one of their coupons, you can get it for Free. If you don't have a Harbor Freight nearby, you can purchase one from Home Depot for less than $10.00 (I've seen it as low as $6.99).

Mess factor:

It really wasn't too messy. Basically, confined to a tray and a bigger bowl.

I hope you have a great day.