Electricity students, at the Niagara Career and Technical Education Center, did a very cool electricity lesson with Science teacher Seth Muck. Mr. Muck designed a lab that showed seniors in Logan Spain’s and Bill Leggett’s classes how a battery works in a simple circuit and how chemical energy changes to electrical energy. “We used nails and copper as our two metals,” explains Mr. Muck. “For our electrolyte we used a potato. The students were able to light up an LED bulb when they put three to four potatoes in a series. The students used more and got up to 20V by the end of the lab.” It seems that certain metals experience a chemical reaction with the acids inside the potato. The chemical reaction creates electrical energy that can power a small device. It was a great way to demonstrate the concepts of voltage, current and resistance.
