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Can Potatoes Charge My Phone
If technically speaking, potatoes have the ability to charge your phone, but it isn’t very easy. In order for a potato to charge your phone, you will need about 110 pounds of potato in total. And for the wires, you will need about 36 feet of zinc and copper wires.
We’ll discuss the complex experiment required to use a potato to charge your phone and the science behind it. In this project, you will learn the basics of battery science and make a simple battery out of potatoes to power a small flashlight and buzzer.
To use a potato to power an electrical device that runs on less than 0.5 volts, you will need a large potato, 2 coins, 2 galvanized nails, three strands of copper wire, and a low-power device.
If your phone can use the least voltage; 5 volts to charge, so you’d need at least 100 potatoes to give you that voltage. Even a powerful light bulb, a potato can’t provide enough voltage to charge, let alone a cell phone. Because a potato can produce a few milliamps of current, that’s not enough to charge a phone with a single potato.
Generously, you can charge your phone (much slower) with 10,000 potatoes, assuming you can live off one-tenth of the output amps.
If you don’t have one of the fastest-charging phones, you can always use a banana to boost your battery. You should keep a portable battery and USB cable in your travel bag so you can charge your iPhone 6 whenever you want, even when you’re not near a power outlet. You can charge your iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch, AirPods, and other Apple products with the Apple USB Power Adapter for iPad and Mac Laptops.
You can use Apple’s 10W and 12W USB power adapters to charge your iPad, iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch, and other Apple accessories such as AirPods and Siri Remote. However, for maximum phone charging during a power outage, you can purchase a camping stove with a USB connector.
All modern batteries can provide enough power to charge your smartphone, although not all of them can support fast charging (even if your phone does). When using a smartphone while charging, the battery charges more slowly than usual to provide enough power for continuous use.
A couple of years ago, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem published information that boiled potatoes for eight minutes could create a battery that produces ten times more energy than raw potatoes.
A quarter of a potato boiled for eight minutes can be used to power LED lamps, mobile phones and other electronic devices. Research also shows that boiled potatoes are capable of producing more electricity than regular potatoes.
| Requirements | Steps |
| For a potato to charge your phone, you will need about 110 pounds of potato in total | Sandwiching it between a zinc anode and a copper cathode, and connecting it with a wire |
| You will need about 36 feet of zinc and copper wires | Replace the potato with the battery and in the end start charging your phone with the potato charger |
They found that simply boiling a potato for eight minutes destroyed the organic tissue inside the potato, reducing resistance and allowing electrons to move more freely, producing more energy.
After combining about 110 pounds of zinc and copper potatoes, each potato had an open circuit voltage of 0.9 V and emitted a current of 0.3-0.6 mA. The group known as the BatteryBox then took their potatoes and lined up 6 of the cut pieces in a series circuit and the remaining 40 in a parallel circuit.
How to turn a potato into a charger?
Cut the potato in half and make a small slit in each half, big enough for the coin to slide through. Use your fingernail to wrap the wire attached to the potato half coin a little over the second fingernail. To connect two potatoes in series (to increase the voltage), place a coin and a nail in the second potato and connect a wire from the zinc nail in the first potato to the first potato Copper coins in two potatoes.
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Use an extra alligator clip to connect the copper electrodes of the two potato batteries and another extra alligator clip to connect their zinc electrodes. If the LED does not light up, follow the procedure for connecting multiple potato batteries in series or in parallel.
Use the alligator clips to connect the zinc electrode of one potato to the copper electrode of the next potato, and connect the black multimeter probe to the last zinc electrode with the alligator clip to form a chain.
Connect potato 1 to the watch’s terminal and potato 2 to the positive terminal inside the watch’s battery compartment.
A zinc anode atom dissolves in an apple or potato as a positively charged ion (an atom whose number of electrons is not equal to the number of protons), leaving behind two negatively charged electrons.
Two negatively charged electrons combine with the hydrogen ions of an apple or potato through a wire connecting the two electrodes to form hydrogen gas.
Potato batteries use acids from the potato to initiate a reaction with two electrodes made of different metals that cause electrons to flow from one to the other through the potato, producing energy. Zinc is a widely used anode metal in batteries. The nail reacts with the electrolyte found in potato and potato pulp. Some types of metals, especially copper and zinc, react with potatoes when placed inside.
The potato doesn’t actually act as a source of energy, but rather as a salt bridge allowing electrons to flow between two metal poles, conducting electricity. The water contained in the potato is not pure water and will conduct electricity due to the pollutants and ions contained in the potato. In a potato battery, electrical energy is generated as a result of two chemical reactions occurring on the electrodes (metal strips of copper and zinc).
You can make an amazingly powerful battery using a quarter of a sliced potato by inserting it between a copper cathode and a zinc anode and connecting it with a wire. This design makes it easy to replace a potato with a new slice when it no longer powers the amazingly powerful battery.
Using a potato to create a galvanic cell
Using a normal electrical connection wire, you can use a potato to create a galvanic cell that powers a VERY small light bulb. Takhistov said that you would need to connect many potato batteries in parallel to create enough current to charge a device such as a phone or a tablet.
An experiment by a group known as BatteryBox claims that it takes 110 pounds of potatoes to power a phone.
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The phone charging method using over a hundred pounds of potatoes is just a fun experiment, not a practical method. The guys at BatteryBox decided to see if they could charge a phone (specifically the Samsung Galaxy S3) with a potato battery. In the end, Making took 110 pounds of rust-coloured potatoes, and 36 feet of copper and zinc tubing, but the guys at BatteryBox loaded it up.
How to Charge the Phone with a Potato?
You can make a strong battery by utilizing a quarter part of a sliced potato, sandwiching it between a zinc anode and a copper cathode, and connecting it with a wire. It is like you are substituting the potato with the battery.
How Long Does Potato Battery Last?
A potato battery can last for up to 4 to 5 days or until your potato has gone bad. Also, it depends on how large your potato is and how much zinc you have used. So, if you use a big solid chunk of zinc your battery can last very long.
How Does Potato Work As A Battery?
Batteries or cells such as potato batteries are electrochemical devices. With the acid inside the potato, certain metals undergo a chemical reaction. Chemical reactions produce the electrical energy needed to power small devices such as LED lights and clocks.