Name___________________

Chemistry II: Homemade Batteries Hr____ Date_____________

Introduction:
In order to construct a normal battery (or galvanic cell), you must have an anode, a
cathode and an electrolyte to produce a useful voltage. Batteries can actually be made
from any number of common household goods like lemons, oranges, potatoes or
pickles.

However, these fruits and vegetables cannot be made into batteries by themselves.
They require the addition of two different pieces of metals that will function as the anode
and cathode. It is actually the metals that cause the electrochemical reaction. The fruits
and vegetables only act as the electrolyte that allows the transfer of ions and maintains
electrical neutrality. They naturally contain various ions that make this possible.

Experimental Setup:
In this experiment, you will construct two different types of homemade batteries, each
making use of natural electrolytes and two different metals functioning as the anode and
cathode.

Part A: Pickle Battery

1. Obtain a pickle, a galvanized nail (galvanized means coated or treated with zinc), a
piece of copper and a voltmeter.

2. Place the materials on a piece of paper towel or newspaper to minimize cleanup.

3. Insert the nail and the copper piece about 1-2 cm apart into the pickle. The metals
should penetrate the pickle at least 2-3 cm. The metals should not be touching
within the pickle.

4. Using the voltmeter, touch the red/black probes to the two pieces of metal. If you get
a negative voltage reading, switch the probes. You may need to experiment with the
placement of the probes to get the best reading possible.

5. Allow the probe a minute or so to reach a final voltage, especially if it is steadily

increasing. Once the voltage is relatively constant, record the voltage in the table
provided below. (Theoretically, you will see around a 1.0 V reading)

Now that you have found the cell potential of one pickle battery cell, you can set
up a series of pickle battery cells to increase the cell potential and overall voltage.

6. Obtain several other pickles and the necessary number of galvanized nails and
copper pieces.

7. Setup each pickle cell in the same way did in step 3.

8. Obtain several black or red wires with alligator clips. In order to link the pickle cells
together, you must use a wire to link the copper of one pickle to the nail of another.
9. Link the two pickle cells together by attaching the copper of one to the nail of the
other, and measure the voltage with a voltmeter, contacting the probes to the two
free metal pieces. Again, follow the suggestions outlined in steps 4 and 5.

10. Record the final voltage of the two pickle cell in the table below. What observation
can you make about the voltage of the lone pickle cell compared with the two pickle
cell?

11. Experiment further by linking up to five pickle cells together. Link the pickles
together as outlined in step 9. After each additional pickle cell, take a voltage
measurement and record in the table below. Is there a pattern emerging?

Optional: Once you have set up multiple pickle cells, you can attempt to use the
voltage produced to light a small light bulb.

1. Obtain two more wires with alligator clips, a red light bulb base and a small light bulb.

2. Screw the light bulb into the red base, ensuring that the base of the bulb is in contact
with metal.

3. Attach each wire to one of the free pieces of metal and attach the other ends to the
metal loops found on the red base. If enough voltage is produced by your pickle cells,
the light bulb should light up.

4. If the light does not go on, try adding another pickle cell to your battery until it does.

5. How many pickle cells did it take to light the light bulb?

Part A Data Table

# of Pickles 1 2 3 4 5
Voltage (V)

Part A Lab Questions:

1. The pickle cell produces a voltage because of the copper/zinc redox reaction. Write
the overall balanced redox reaction occurring and find the theoretical ξocell.

2. Using your data and theoretical cell potentials, calculate the % error for pickle #1.

3. What voltage pattern, if any, could be observed from linking the pickle cells together?
Part B: Nail/Copper tubing battery with pickle juice.

1. Obtain a galvanized nail (you can reuse one from Part A) and piece of hollow copper
tubing. The tubing should easily slide of the nail.

2. Using a piece of scrap paper, tear off a piece measuring ~ 5 cm x 5 cm. The length
should be no longer than the nail, but the width can vary a bit.

3. Soak the piece of paper in pickle juice, and wrap it snugly around the nail.

4. Slide the piece of copper tubing over the nail/paper. If the copper will not slide on,
remove the paper and cut off a small portion. Rewrap the nail and try again. Repeat
this process until the copper fits snugly.

5. Using the voltmeter, place one probe on the end of the nail and the other toward the
end of the nail but touching the copper tubing. As outlined previously, measure the
voltage and record in the table below.

6. As with the pickle, it is possible to link these cells together and produce a greater
overall voltage. Prepare another nail/copper tubing cell following steps 1-4.

7. Place the cells end to end, ensuring that the nail head of one is touching the copper
end of another and so on. Measure the voltage by placing the probes on the two
free ends (one on a nail head and the other on the ending piece of copper tubing).

8. Experiment by putting as many cells in series as possible. Measure the voltages

obtained in the table below.

Part B Data Table

# of Nail/Cu 1 2 3 4 5
cells
Voltage (V)

1. These battery cells operated on the same reaction used with the pickles. Using the
theoretical cell potential from that reaction, determine the % error for the first nail/Cu cell.

2. Does the same pattern found with pickle cells also apply to the Nail/Cu cells? If so,
which type of battery was more consistent or reliable with this pattern?

3. Was there any physical sign of the reaction taking place, such as the formation of
solid/salt on one of the electrodes?