You would have eat delicious dish of potato many times to fill your stomach when you were hungry, but can you imagine that it can also be used to generate electricity to power various devices.

WOLLA!!!, Yes….., that is true.

Let’s see how we can do that.

What you need

1. Zinc Strip           – 2
2. Copper Strip      – 2
3. Wires                  – 3
4. Potatoes             – 2
5. Digital Clock       – 1

How it works

Using metals strips and two potatoes we can make a simple battery that can create the electricity to operate a small digital clock. Each potato works as a device called electrochemical cell.

The energy comes from the chemical change in the zinc when it dissolve inside the mild phosphoric acid content of the potato. The energy does not comes from the potato itself. A cell works because of chemical properties of the metal inside ( in case here, copper and zinc ). The different properties cause small particles charged with electricity called ions  to move between the two strips of metal.

What happen is that zinc is oxidized inside the potato , changing some of its electrons with the potato acid in order to reach a lower energy state , and the energy released provides electrical power also flows along the wires between the strips and the copper strips and the clock. This current make the clock work.

Watch the video to see how it works