We rely on digital clocks in all kinds of ways, and when their batteries go flat there’s a problem. They tell us when the fries are cooked, and who won the hurdle race. When we are climbing mountains and there’s an accident, they help us count a person’s pulse rate and know what to do. Normally, we use Dad’s smartphone. When his lithium battery goes down, only the kids know how to make a potato clock.
The Low Down on a Potato Clock
You are a smart kid and follow our blog. So you already guessed a potato clock uses potato juice just like a lemon battery. In other words, the liquid inside is the electrolyte. You just need to add the electrodes and connect things up with alligator connector leads.
The electrodes are lengths of heavy copper wire, and galvanized nails coated with zinc. Interrogate the clerk in the hardware store. Accept no substitutes. We are doing science. Check this video out.
Okay Great So How Long Does the Potato Battery Last
Potato power dies when the potato goes rotten. The smell is really gross. You may like to bury the potato in the garden where the dog can’t find it because it smells like you know what. The battery will continue putting out electricity until then, depending on the thickness of zinc coating on the galvanized nails.
You could keep the potato battery going longer if you used a solid piece of zinc instead. Then you could extend the potato’s life by keeping the potato clock in the cooler bag. Explain to Mom that you are expanding the frontiers of science. Run a mile if you forget, and there’s strange smell coming from the cooler bag …
Related
What Electrolytes Are And How They Work
How Electrons Travel In and Out of Electrodes
Preview Image: Russet Potatoes
Video Link: https://youtu.be/lpM74JGCpoA
