Depending on your particular LED, you may need more or fewer. If you would like to light up an LED, you will need to make about 5 batteries. Your battery should measure in the vicinity of half a volt. Turn the dial to the lowest voltage setting. If you have a voltmeter, connect the positive, red lead to the copper penny and the negative, black lead to the aluminum foil. The front and back of your battery should look like this: Battery science projectįinally, add a few drops of vinegar to the paper towel to act as the electrolyte. The aluminum foil should hang over the other end of the duct tape and should not touch the penny at all.įold over the duct tape to hold the 3 layers together to make your DIY Battery. Line up the paper towel with the duct tape edge on the penny side (and be completely covered on the other side). The penny should stick out from the duct tape slightly. Layer the penny, paper towel square, and aluminum foil squares on top of the duct tape. Next, rip a piece of duct tape that is about the same width as the paper towel (or slightly bigger). Rip a piece of paper towel about the same size as the aluminum foil and fold it into a similarly sized square. Again, exact size is not important, but the square piece of aluminum foil should be a little bigger than a penny. Exact dimensions are not important.įold the aluminum foil into a square about 1 inch (2.5 cm) on each side. To make your homemade battery, first tear a square piece of aluminum foil about 3 inches (8 cm) per side. Voltmeter (optional, but makes the activity more meaningful if the child can measure how much voltage their battery produces.).Alligator clips (optional, makes it easy to connect battery in a circuit, but could also use strips of aluminum foil instead.I used a green LED which only required 2 volts to light. LED (optional, but the activity is more fun if you have something to power.Could also use lemon juice or salt water. Vinegar (I used distilled white vinegar, but the type is not important.Aluminum foil (only a small amount, about a foot (~1/3 meter) of length is needed).Pennies (at least 5 if you would like to use your batteries to light up an LED).When batteries are connected within a circuit, electrons want to flow from the negative electrode (called the anode) to the positive electrode (called the cathode) creating the current that will power the load.Īll you need are a few simple materials to try this homemade battery: A wire that is not connected to a power source has no reason to create an electrical current. Electricity experiments for kidsĮlectricity is a form of energy that comes from charged particles. In nearly all electrical devices, negatively charged particles called electrons flow along a wire to create a current which is used to power the device. Try this battery science project with grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, grade 4, grade 5, and grade 6 elementary age and middle school students. With an inexpensive LED, kids can use their homemade batteries to power a useful device and feel some of the excitement that early inventors must have felt over two hundred years ago. This how to make a battery science project provides kids with a simple, inexpensive way to create their own homemade battery experiment using materials that are likely already in their home (pennies, aluminum foil, paper towels, vinegar, and duct tape). From indoor lighting to smartphones, being able to use electrical energy to our advantage has completely changed the course of human history. The links below lead to a page that describes the manner in which the activity aligns with the NGSS.Harnessing the power of electricity is truly one of mankind’s greatest achievements. As time passes, expect the list to grow in length. The list below includes those activities that we have indexed. We're really just getting started on the alignment of activities at our website with the Next Generation Science Standards.
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