Diy Penny Battery: Powering an Led With Household Items

Believe it or not, you can create a simple homemade battery using common household items, including pennies! Here’s how to make your own:

1. Materials Needed:

   • Pennies (preferably older ones, minted before 1982, as they contain more copper)
   • Vinegar
   • Cardboard
   • Tin foil
   • Electrical tape
   • Small LED light

2. Preparation:

   • Cleaning the Pennies: Wash a stack of pennies in vinegar to get them shiny and dirt-free. This ensures better conductivity.
   • Cutting the Cardboard: Cut pieces of cardboard into circles the size of the pennies. Soak these cardboard pieces in vinegar. The vinegar-soaked cardboard will act as the electrolyte.

3. Assembling the Battery:

   • Creating the Stack: Start by placing a penny on a flat surface. Then, place a piece of vinegar-soaked cardboard on top of the penny, followed by a piece of tin foil. Repeat this process, stacking another penny, cardboard, and tin foil in the same order. Continue stacking until you have sufficient layers (10-12 layers typically work well).
   • Securing the Stack: Use electrical tape to hold the stack together firmly, ensuring that the stack remains aligned and in contact.

4. Using the Battery:

   • Connecting the LED: Attach the leads of a small LED light to the top and bottom of the stack. The pennies act as the electrodes, and the vinegar on the cardboard serves as the electrolyte. The LED should light up, powered by your homemade battery!

This experiment is not intended as a practical power source for everyday devices, but it’s a fun and educational way to understand the basic principles of battery technology. By creating a simple battery, you can learn how chemical reactions can generate electricity and power small electronics.

References

1. Science Buddies. (n.d.). Penny Battery: Chemistry & Electricity Science Activity. Retrieved from Science Buddies
2. Exploratorium. (n.d.). Build a Battery. Retrieved from Exploratorium
3. HowStuffWorks. (2021). How to Make a Homemade Battery from Pennies. Retrieved from HowStuffWorks