Today we have a truly awesome experiment to share. We are going to build a battery with two hands using an electrolyte you may not know you have. But first, we need to get these materials and tools together.
- A flat sheet of board, or plastic to work on
- A simple multi meter on loan from dad
- A hand-size aluminum sheet, or foil
- A hand-size brass sheet, or shim stock
- Two foot-long wires with clips at both ends
Are You Ready? Let’s Build a Battery with Two Hands!
Place the metal sheets on the work surface, say a foot apart with the multi meter between them. Set meter to read in milliamps. Connect the aluminum sheet to one multi meter terminal with one wire. Join the brass sheet to the other terminal with the other wire. Turn the multi meter on.
Place one hand palm-side down on either plate. The multi meter needle should move towards the positive side. If not, swap the multi meter connections to reverse the polarity. If there is no movement fix the problem as follows.
- Check the multi meter by touching the probes together
- Check the wires are making good connections at both ends
- Remove oxidation from the hand-size plates with steel wool
- Moisten your palms with a little water and try again
Now the System is Working Properly, What is Going On?
What you did was build a battery with two hands. The two plates are the electrodes, and the moisture on your skin is the electrolyte. The flow of current passed through your body from one hand to the other.
Have a friend press their hand on one plate while you continue to press the other. When you hold your other two hands together, you should still see multi meter movement, but less. That’s because you double the resistance when you build a battery with two hands that way.
Related
Preview Image: Holding Hands
