Electric Potato

Electricity

Things You Will Need
• D-cell battery
• Potato
• Aluminum foil
• Two pennies
• Steel wool, not soap-filled (available in hardware stores)
• Two paper clips (plain metal)
• Masking tape
• Scissors
• Small thumbtack

Do This

1. Cut a piece of aluminum foil, 24 inches by 12 inches.
2. Fold the aluminum piece in half lengthwise five times to form a thin, 24-inch-long strip.
3. Cut the aluminum strip in half to form two 12-inch strips.
4. Clean the pennies by rubbing them with steel wool.
5. Tape one end of each of the aluminum strips to the ends of a D-cell battery.
6. Wrap the free ends of the aluminum strips around a penny so that about one-half of each penny is left exposed. Secure the aluminum strip to each penny with a paper clip.
7. Have an adult cut a potato in half.
8. Push the exposed edge of the pennies about 1/2-inch apart into the sliced end of the potato.
9. Mark the side of the potato attached to the positive end of the battery with a thumbtack. The positive end of the battery will be marked with a plus sign.
10. Wait about one hour, then remove the pennies from the potato.

What Should Have Happened

The penny connected to the positive end of the battery created a green substance on the potato. The positively charged copper particles in the penny combine with negatively charged particles in the potato to form a green copper compound.