How to build a homemade electric battery

One of the main applications of the study of electrochemistry is to provide a source of energy using reagents and chemical elements as raw materials, which can substitute a combustion or physical force to provide direct energy. Today, we will look at how to make a homemade electric battery from everyday items, with which we can light up an LED, digital clock or any device that requires batteries.

Materials

- A glass beaker or container.

- A bottle of vinegar (acetic acid).

- A piece of copper pipe or fixture.

- A metal pencil sharpener.

- Cables.

- An LED or a small digital clock.

Building our homemade electric battery

Building our home battery will be a fairly simple process. The first thing we are going to do is to take the glass or glass container, wash it very well and dry it with paper towel to avoid impurities.

Next, we place a little vinegar inside our glass or glass container and move the container until the vinegar touches all the internal walls of the container. In this way, we will cure our glass container.

Then, empty the little vinegar and add a considerable amount of vinegar into the glass, about 3/4 of the capacity of the glass or glass container.

Now it's time to create our electrodes. To do this, we are going to cut two identical long pieces of wire approximately 40 cm long and remove about 10 cm of the insulation at each end of both pieces of wire, using a knife or a tool that allows us to do this task.

Now, we connect several turns of the copper tube to one end of the wire, and the pencil sharpener to one end of the other wire. In this way, we will have our electrodes ready.

It is time to dip the electrodes into the liquid inside the beaker and connect the free ends of the wires to the connectors of the digital clock, LED or any device that requires batteries and we will see how they light up.

How our battery works

The operation of the battery is quite simple, within the electrolyte (acetic acid or vinegar) there is a free flow of electrons from one of the electrodes to the other, producing an oxidation-reduction reaction that allows the electrons to travel along the wires and supply power to any device.

The flow of electrons is due to the fact that the electrodes (copper and magnesium) have different electrical potential values, allowing one to oxidise by giving up electrons and one to reduce by gaining electrons. Once the electrons reach the cathode (the electrode that is reduced), they travel through the cathode and through the wire, generating electric current and creating a homemade electric battery.