How Does Lemon Juice Conduct Electricity?

electricity

Lemon juice in its natural form generally has a high PH that makes it hard to consume as it is without neutralizing it. To allow harmless consumption it is mixed with vitamins and additives that make it less acidic to levels of between 2.2 and 3.0 PH which is good for general consumption. However using it as a food is just one of the uses that lemon juice is put into.

The high acidity found in lemon juice can actually be used to generate electricity. Lemons contain acid that has both positive and negative ions. These ions are usually found in the water the liquid part of the lemon. This can be easily illustrated by carrying out a simple experiment to find out if a lemon contains these ions.

You need a couple of things to carry out this experiment though; you should have a multi meter, 14 to 18 gauge copper wire that’s less than 2 feet long, a small light bulb and four lemons. With these apparatus you are now ready to begin the experiment. The first step is rolling down the lemon on a flat and hard surface to ensure that the juice inside the lemon mixes well. However be sure not to make any punctures on the skin of the lemon, it should remain intact. Then take a paper clip straighten it and pierce it halfway through the lemon skin. Insert a six inch copper wire halfway into the lemon skin but it shouldn’t come in contact with the paper clip.

Once the two terminals are in place you can now measure the electric current being produced. You can use a multimeter to know how much electricity is being produced. If you don’t have a multimeter you can use a light bulb by bringing the paper clip and copper wire terminals in contact with base of the bulb. If no current is produced you can add more lemons to the circuit. Next time someone asks, how does lemon juice conduct electricity? Show them this simple illustration.

Source by Chris Cornell