Slides from Pasadena Public Library's "Make a Penny Battery" program for kids, with information about electricity and batteries, including how the first battery was made in 1800.

1. Hands-on Science and
Engineering at Pasadena
Public Library
August 8, 2017

2. Electricity by Joseph Midthun and Samuel Hiti, pg. 12

3. The Science of Electricity by Louise Spilsbury, pg. 10-11

5. The Science of Electricity by Louise Spilsbury, pg. 18

6. How Conductors Work by Victoria G. Christensen, pg. 11

7. Alessandro Volta, 1745-1827 Luigi Galvani, 1737-1798

8. The Science of Electricity by Louise Spilsbury, pg. 6

9. “Volta, though initially galvanized
by this work, argued that the frogs’
muscles were simply reacting to the
electricity, not producing it. He set
out to prove Galvani wrong, and
sparked a controversy that divided
the Italian scientific community.
Volta realized that the crucial
feature of Galvani’s experiments
was the two dissimilar metals–the
iron or brass hook and the probe of
some other metal. The metals
were generating the current, not
the frog parts.”
https://www.aps.org/publications/apsn
ews/200603/history.cfm
How Conductors Work by Victoria G.
Christensen, pg. 10

10. “To show conclusively that the
generation of an electric current did not
require any animal parts, Volta put
together a rather messy stack of
alternating zinc and silver discs,
separated by brine-soaked cloth. He
built the pile, which consisted of as
many as thirty disks, in imitation of the
electric organ of the torpedo fish.
“When a wire was connected to both
ends of the pile, a steady current
flowed. Volta found that different types
of metal could change the amount of
current produced, and that he could
increase the current by adding disks to
the stack.”
https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/2
00603/history.cfm
A Project Guide to Electricity
and Magnetism by Colleen
Kessler, pg. 6

11. Batteries, Bulbs and Wires by David Glover, pg. 30

13. How Conductors Work by Victoria G. Christensen, pg. 16

14. How Conductors Work by Victoria G. Christensen, pg. 16
Will it work
with pure,
distilled water?
Will it work
with sugary
water?

15. http://www.wisegeek.org/what-damage-is-caused-by-dropping-a-cell-phone-in-water.htm#didyouknowout
“When water hits the
circuitry of the phone,
the electricity in the
phone takes the path of
least resistance, which
happens to be the
water. Water is an
excellent conductor
and will readily carry
the current, creating
shorts that damage the
systems inside the
phone by overloading
them with energy.”

16. From The Simpsons Movie

17. How Conductors Work by Victoria G. Christensen, pg. 11
Which of the metals on
this list will produce the
most voltage when paired
together?
A.Tin and Iron
B.Zinc and Copper
C.Tin and Silver
D.Silver and Gold

18. How Conductors Work by Victoria G. Christensen, pg. 11
Which of the metals on
this list will produce the
most voltage when paired
together?
A.Tin and Iron
B.Zinc and Copper
C.Tin and Silver
D.Silver and Gold

19. Electricity by Joseph Midthun and Samuel Hiti, pg. 12
An electric current is the
steady flow of _________
from atom to atom.
A.Protons
B.Neutrons
C.Electrons
D.Quarks

20. Electricity by Joseph Midthun and Samuel Hiti, pg. 12
An electric current is the
steady flow of _________
from atom to atom.
A.Protons
B.Neutrons
C.Electrons
D.Quarks

21. Make a battery that will light an LED

23. I used Lawry’s seasoned salt (which has a lot of sugar and other spices
in it) and baking soda (which is pretty much pure sodium
bicarbonate). Which one do you think worked better?

24. We will only be sanding pennies that were printed AFTER 1982, because
they contain another metal underneath the copper.
Before 1982, pennies were almost exclusively copper.
DON’T SAND THIS PENNY!

25. This will take time, so I’ve included two pre-sanded pennies
in your envelopes. Altogether you will need four pennies
sanded on one side. Leave your oldest penny alone!

26. Zinc! Remember that zinc and copper are the same
metals that Alessandro Volta used in his battery in
1800.

27. Unsanded penny
Wet Mat board
Wet Mat board
Wet Mat board
Wet Mat board
Sanded penny, Zinc side up
Sanded penny, Zinc side up
Sanded penny, Zinc side up
Sanded penny, Zinc side up

28. Copper
Salty water
Salty water
Salty water
Salty water
Zinc
Zinc
Zinc
Zinc
Copper
Copper
Copper
Copper

29. The longer side is the “positive” side, and the
shorter side is the “negative” side. This is important
because in an electric circuit, electrons flow in only
one direction, from negative pole to positive pole.
(Incidentally, electric current itself is considered to
go in the opposite direction, from positive pole to
negative pole.)

30. If you don’t connect it this way you won’t get your
LED to light. If you are unsure, try flipping it around.
It should light up instantly.

35. Electricity by Joseph Midthun and Samuel Hiti
The Science of Electricity by Louise Spilsbury
How Conductors Work by Victoria G. Christensen
A Project Guide to Electricity and Magnetism by
Colleen Kessler
Batteries, Bulbs and Wires by David Glover