Hooked on Science: Ice-tray battery

Materials

• Distilled white vinegar
• Seven pieces of copper wire
• Seven galvanized nails
• Ice tray
• One LED light

Instructions

STEP 1: Tightly wrap the pieces of copper wires around the galvanized nails, leaving a section of wire extending from below the head of the nail.

STEP 2: Fill eight of the ice-tray wells, next to each other, with the distilled white vinegar.

STEP 3: Create a circuit by inserting each nail into an ice-tray well of vinegar, while placing the extending wire into the next well of vinegar.

STEP 4: Close the circuit by placing one prong of the LED light into the ice tray well with only a copper wire inside and place the other LED prong into the well with only a nail. If the bulb does not light up, switch the prongs. Make observations to provide evidence energy can be transferred from place to place by electric currents.

STEP 5: Explain how the ice-tray battery converts chemical energy into electrical energy, powering the LED light.

Explanation

The ice-tray battery converts chemical energy into electrical energy, powering the LED light. This happens when the two different metals -- the galvanized nails, which contain zinc, and the copper wires -- are submerged into the acidic solution, vinegar. Once everything is connected, a closed circuit is created, and the LED lights up.