How to build a battery

How to build a battery

By Carla Shoemaker and Tabbatha

Tennessee Science Standards:
GLE 0407.12.2 Observe that electrically charged objects exert a pull on other materials.
GLE 0407.12.3 Explain how electricity in a simple circuit requires a complete loop through which current can pass.
GLE 0407.Inq.2 Select and use appropriate tools and simple equipment to conduct an investigation.

Introduction:
In science and technology, a battery is a device that stores energy and makes it available in an electrical form. A battery converts chemical energy into electric energy. It is a connected bunch (or “battery”) of electro-chemical devices.


A battery contains chemicals that it uses to make electricity. You can make your own battery with materials that you may find in any junk drawer. When these chemicals are combined, they produce electricity.

Materials:

2 wires with stripped ends
6 copper coins (pennies)

Tape
Marker
Saucer
Paper towels
Scissors
Aluminum Foil

Warm salty

*Draw and cut out 6 coin-sized foil circles and paper circles

Tape one wire to a coin and the other to a foil circle.

















Dip a paper circle in the warm salty water.

Put the foil circle with a wire on the saucer and place the wet paper circle and a coin on top

Build up more layers of foil, wet paper, and coins. The coin with the wire goes on top. This is your battery.

Attach the end of one wire to the base of the plug of the earphones

Put on the earphones and scrape the end of the wire on the tip of the plug. You should hear crackles in the earphone.

Did you know that when you place aluminum, salt, and copper together; they make electricity? Then, the electricity goes to the earphones and makes the sound you should have heard.

What is going on:

The metal atoms in the foil dissolve into the electrolyte (the warm, salty water) and electrons are left behind. Electricity is created when the electrons flow through a circuit (the foil circles and paper circles soaked in warm, salty water). When the metals eventually dissolve completely into the electrolyte, no more electrons are formed and the battery stops working. The first battery (Volta's Pile) was developed about 1860 by Alessandro Volta. He stacked discs of copper, zinc, and cardboard soaked in salty water in alternate layers and measured an electronic current. http://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/discover/powerplant.html

How to build a battery power point presentation.