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Description

Make your own aluminium oxide battery out of a fizzy drink can, join together to power a headtorch

Resources

Aluminium Cans, 2mm thick copper wire, sand, salt, LED head torch (batteries removed), crocodile clips, voltmeter, sandpaper, gloves, tin snips or strong scissors, cardboard

Instructions

Show a demonstration to children with a ready made can;

First take an empty aluminium can and under supervision put a small hole in the side about 4/5th up the can
Insert scissors into hole and cut top of can (discard)
Wearing gloves sand the inside of the can - this will remove any oxide that has already formed
Cut out a circle of cardboard slightly smaller than the bottom of the can and a rectangle the height of the can
Insert cardboard into can so there can be no contact with the inside - this will prevent any short circuits
Fill the can with sand
Separately make up a saline solution around 5% salt to 95% tap water
take a 20cm length of copper wire and twist into a spring shape and place into can with a small length sticking strait up this will be the Anode
attach a (red) crocodile clip to the copper wire (Anode) and onto a voltmeter, attach the other (Black) crocodile clip to the outside of the can (Cathode) and to the voltmeter.

Your battery is now ready - Just fill with salt water to start the reaction and you will see the voltage increase to around 0.5 - 1volt

If you connect around 10 tin cans together in series and put the last clips into the empty battery compartment of an LED headtorch it will light up, it is also possible to charge a mobile phone (old phone) with the same setup

Tags

• battery
• science experiments

Badge Links

• Scientist - Other