what are in potatoes and how are they made?

Question

i need to do a science prject for my 8th grade class on"how many potatoes does it take to lite a light bulb and what about lemons?"

Answer 1

a potato can be used to power a lamp. Usually a penny & a galvanized nail are used for this 'battery'. Copper & zinc are REQUIRED for this process, but not a penny & a nail per se. A potato works well, but a tomato, lemon or other citrus fruit can be substituted. The zinc and the copper are the anode and cathode terminals of your potato battery. Using ordinary hook-up electrical wire, you can use the potato to create a voltaic cell, which will power a VERY small bulb. A light emitting diode (LED) will work fine.

A side note here about voltage & current. This process will produce less than 1.5 volts DC (AA/AAA battery). However, producing 1.5 volts does not necessarily produce enough current to make the lamp actually power up to full use. Voltage is only the POTENTIAL to do work. (See Ohm’s law: V = I x R) This kind of battery generally produces only a few milliamps. Even multiple potatoes may not generate enough amperage. Most assuredly, it will NOT power a household light, but a small flashlight lamp will GLOW.

Cut the potato in half. Wrap the end of a piece of wire around a galvanized nail and wrap the end of a second piece of wire around a penny. Stick the copper side into one piece of potato and the nail into the other. The zinc and copper electrodes should not touch each other. If a wire is connected between the Zinc nail and the copper penny, electrons will flow. However, direct contact of the two electrodes will only produce heat.

Electric current is the movement of electrons from one atom to another in a conductor. Inserting the two common metal electrodes into the potato causes a chemical reaction to occur resulting in current. The potato does not participate directly in the reaction. It is there rather as an electrolyte to facilitate the transport of the zinc and copper ions in the solution, while keeping the copper and zinc electrodes apart. The potato contains phosphoric acid (H3PO4), which facilitates the electro-chemical reaction of zinc with copper.

Zinc is an active metal, which reacts readily with acid to liberate electrons. The acid's active ingredient is positively charged hydrogen, so a transfer of electrons takes place between the zinc and the acid. The zinc (Zn0) is oxidized (Zn++ ) and the acid (H+) is reduced to hydrogen gas (H2), which you can see bubbling out around the electrodes. The reaction at the penny electrode depletes the electrons from the copper and attaches them to the hydrogen ions in the phosphoric acid.

Answer 2

Potato chips are made from potatoes. Now depending on the chip you are going to get varying amounts of potato . . . A real potato chip is a thinly sliced potato that has been fried and seasoned (usually just salt) Today many of the brands take potatoes and mash them up and mix them up with a bunch of food additives and make a paste which is then stamped out into the shape of a potato chip and fried up that way. Technically it is a potato chip but it is nothing like a real chip. . .

Answer 3

if you are using a potato/lemon you will also need a zinc metal strip to act as the negative end of the “battery,” and a copper strip to act as the positive end of the “battery.” These metals each react with the lemon juice. As a result, electrons are pushed through the wires. Since the two metals react differently, the electrons are pushed harder in one direction than the other, and a current is created. If the metals were the same, the push would be equal and no current would be formed. but that's all i know about lemons.

i'm unsure aobut potatoes. i know that they work, but not as well.

Answer 4

To add in on the last response, carbohydrates are comples sugars, which the body breaks down. Potatoes contain A LOT of carbs so don't eat too much ;)

this is because sugar that the vody doesn't use quickly, is stored as fat.

they are plants (tuber), they also produce electricity because of an acidic reaction that creates energy

Answer 5

You mean use them as a kind of battery? I think I saw that once but I am sooooo dumb at science. I know they have starch in them. They were original to this hemisphere (not any where else). They grow under ground. A fungus killed them in Ireland and caused thousands of people to starve in the 1840's which is why we have a large Irish population here as people left to find work and food in America.

Answer 6

Carbohydrates are in potatoes and they are grown in the earth in fields.

Answer 7

They are full of starchy potato pulp. They are grown.