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penny battery

5/7/2015

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Wow, it's May already!  I know your daily schedule is packed, trying to get all material covered before finals.  Keep focused!  You can do it!  

There isn't money left in most 2014-2015 science department budgets this late in the school year.  For inexpensive chemistry lab ideas, buy my lab book Chemistry on a Budget for $20.56 at amazon.com or $23 at lulu.com. It will take a few weeks to get to you, so order now! 

http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html

This book contains 13 labs using consumable materials purchased from local stores.  There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout.


This blog contains several past entries about Acids & Bases (A&B); Acids, Bases & Salts – Intro on 4/9/2014; A&B – Arrhenius Theory & pH on 4/13/2014; A&B – Bronsted Lowry & K-acid on 4/16/2014; A&B – Titration on 4/24/2014; and A&B – Lewis Theory & Buffers on 4/30/2014.  

At this time of year, you may be finished with the topic of Acids & Bases, so I’m going to revisit Electrochemistry.

Past blog posts about Electrochemistry (Echem) include: Echem – Redox Basics on 5/4/2014; Echem – Balancing Redox Reactions on 5/7/2014; Echem – Electrochemical Cells; and, Echem – Electrolytic Cells on 5/18//2014. 

The following links contain some ideas using pennies to produce electric current (also known as a voltaic or galvanic cell, or a battery).  You may need meters to detect and measure the electric current – if your department doesn’t have any, see if you can borrow any from the Physics Department.  

The following video (almost 5 minutes) shows various ways to produce electric current with pennies:
Here is a 2-page lab handout containing a similar activity:

http://www.exo.net/~jyu/activities/penny%20battery.pdf

The page does say draft, so I’m not sure if it’s a final version.


This lab constructs a battery using pennies and nickels:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Penny-and-Nickel-Battery/


And here is a corresponding penny/nickel lab (3 pages):


http://blogs.rsd13ct.org/redteamscience/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Battery-Lab.pdf


Here’s a 2 page battery lab using various coins:


http://isite.lps.org/gcooper/web/documents/Thesixcentbattery.PDF


If you don’t have time to get a lab together, perhaps students could earn Extra Credit performing this after school.  You could see the results of the experiment and keep any voltmeters on campus.


Remember, you can check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.


Have a good weekend!


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    Marjorie R. Heesemann is a chemistry teacher with 15 years of experience who is now working to develop resources for the Chemistry classroom.

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