Can You Tell Time with a Potato?

Many people will be surprised if they are told that potatoes have electrical power. Potatoes are one of the types of vegetables that can act as an electrolyte, and they are capable of producing enough voltage to power an LED clock. Making a potato clock can be an interesting science project, and it is fairly easy to do too.

Before starting to make a potato clock, one has to gather the necessary supplies. The items that are required include an LED clock unit of low-voltage, two potatoes, heavy copper wire, two galvanized nails, and three alligator clips. Copper pennies can also be used in place of copper wire. The ideal LED clock unit for this experiment is a simple unit that can operate on a 1-volt or 2-volt button battery.

Here are the instructions on how to make a potato clock:

Take the LED clock unit and open up the battery compartment. Then, take the battery out from the compartment. After removing the battery, take note that the place where the battery was attached has positive and negative terminal points.
Identify one potato as potato one and the other as potato two. It is also possible to use only one potato for the experiment, but the potato has to be cut into two halves.
Then, take the two galvanized nails, and insert one nail into potato one and the other into potato two.
The next thing to do is to cut the heavy copper wire. Cut two short pieces and insert one piece in each potato. Make sure that the copper wire is not situated too close to the galvanized nail on each potato. If copper pennies are used instead of copper wires, they should be pushed about halfway into the potatoes.
Take one alligator clip and make a connection between the copper wire on potato one and the positive terminal in the battery compartment of the LED clock unit.
Take another alligator clip and make a link between the nail on potato two and the negative terminal in the battery compartment.
Then, use the last alligator clip to connect the galvanized nail on potato one to the heavy copper wire that is inserted in potato two.
The potato clock is complete. Go ahead and set the clock.

Most of the materials that are required for this experiment can be found at home or in stores, but there are also potato clock kits that are available in places that sell hobby items. The voltage from potatoes is sufficient to power several devices other than clocks. Potatoes can also be used as an electrical source for flashlights and computer case fans. Other than potatoes, certain fruits, vegetables, and drinks can also supply electrical power, and these include apples, bananas, lemons, avocados, pickles, and soft drinks. The simple construction that is mentioned above can also be used when experimenting with other fruits.