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How to Build a Potato Powered Clock

8 March 2015 by Eileen

This week, we been having fun learning through educational STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) focused activities at home. This powered clock is a science activity that is suitable for aged 5 and above. I do find it difficult to explain to my children but they did get the gist of it!

To make life easier, rather than looking around for all the bits to build, we had this Lemon Clock kit provided by Great Gizmos for our Twitter party. If you want to get this kit, you can get it online such as from Amazon. If you prefer to make your own, you would need black and red wires, copper and zinc plates, LCD clock and tape.

This kit is simple to build but it is best to allow older children or an adult to build it as the bits are quite fragile.

how to build a potato powered clock

Firstly, connect the red wire on the LCD clock to a copper plate and the black wire to a zinc plate. Secure the wires in place with adhesive tape. Get another copper plate and zinc plate and connect them with the connection wire using sticky tape. Insert the copper plates and zinc plates into the potato/lemon/carrot halves to activate the LCD clock. Voilà!

We tried this build with lemon, potato, carrot and even diet coke works! So how does it work? The copper plates act like the positive electrodes of a battery. They are plated with a metal which is less reactive than zinc. When the copper plates and zinc plates are inserted into the fruits, a chemical reaction takes place. Electrons move from the zinc plates to the copper plates to form a current, thus activating the LCD clock. The lemon/potato juice creates a small amount of voltage that helps to conduct electricity.

If you don’t have a clock, you could use a small LED light bulb instead! This is such an interesting science project and simple to do with children. But it is not easy for them to understand though!

Disclosure: We have received this kit as part of our Twitter party.

Related

Filed Under: STEM Tagged With: DIY, How to do, STEM

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Comments

  1. caro_mad says

    22 March 2015 at 6:12 am

    This is so cool. I saw something where a guy generated electricity with ice cubes and a watermelon and I was pretty speechless. Amazing!

    Thanks for linking up with our Parenting Pin It Party x

  2. Emma Tustian says

    10 March 2015 at 10:19 pm

    Such good fun. I can’t wait for N to be old enough to try all these science experiments. Hopefully it’d get him more interested in science ahead of doing it in school

  3. mummyoftwo says

    10 March 2015 at 2:08 pm

    I remember doing things like this in science at school – I hadn’t thought about doing it with my son, I bet he would love it!

  4. Cheryl says

    10 March 2015 at 9:53 am

    I’ve had this on my list to make for a while. Such a fun science experiment. Gets them wondering, which is brilliant. Thanks for sharing (and reminding me to get on with it!) #pintorials

Trackbacks

  1. Dancing Noodle – Science Project - ET Speaks From Home says:
    17 December 2021 at 11:45 am

    […] love science projects in this house, from making a potato powered clock to creating a shiny penny. This week through the Collective Bias, we had a chance to make a vlog of […]

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Welcome to ET Speaks From Home!

I'm Eileen, a proud mum of two teenagers (aged 17 and 16), my daughter is living with visual impairment. Since launching this blog in May 2012, we’ve continued to grow and evolve, sharing our family’s journey and passions.

I love cooking, crafting, DIY projects, writing about Chinese culture, and creating YouTube reviews.

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