Citrus Shock!
By: Hannah A.
Question
What type of fruit Produces the greatest amount of electricity?
Hypothesis
I predict that the grapefruit will produce the most electricity because the grapefruit is the biggest fruit I am testing.
Materials
Materials:
- lime
- lemon
- grapefruit
- 2 cords
- battery tester
- journal
- pencil
Variables
Independent Variable: The types of fruits
Dependent Variable: The shock from the fruits
Constant/Controlled Variable:The battery tester and cords
Procedure
- Get Materials out
- Plug cord into the battery tester
- Make a cut in the lemon
- Connect the cords into the cut part of the lemon
- read the measurements
- record measurements
- repeat steps for the lime and grapefruit
Research
Key Words to Research:
- Citric acid in fruits
- Battery tester accuracy
- Most conductive element
Research Notes:
- Up to 8% citric acid in some fruits
- Citric acid has no vitamin C
- Citric fruits: oranges, lemons, grapefruits, limes, and clementines
- lime and lemon contain 4 grams of citric acid
- lime and lemons contain the most citric acid
- silver is the best conductor
- copper and gold are the second best conductors
- over one hundred years ago, pennies were pure copper
- pennies are now made of zinc
- fruits conducts electricity because of substances dissolved in them
- the amount of water and other substances changes how good of a conductor a fruit is
- some fruits have little or no citric acid
Results
Results
Averages:
- Grapefruit- 0.036 volts
- Lemon- 0.09 volts
- Lime- 0.063 volts
- Lemon
- Lime
- Grapefruit
Conclusion
In Conclusion, my hypothesis was incorrect. The grapefruit turned out to have the least electrical charge. This was most likely because the lemon had the most citric acid, and that means the better it is of a conductor. If I were to do this project again, I would add and orange to see if the orange would have more or less electrical power.
Lime
The Lime with the cords.
Lemon
The lemon with the cords.
Grapefruit
The grapefruit with the cords.
Fruit
All three fruit, lime, Lemon, Grapefruit.
Battery Tester
Battery Tester with cords connected.
Grapefruit
The first fruit I tested.