Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

To Whom It May Concern, veggie power science project, my 9 year old son whom is in 3rd grade is wanting to know how we can connect our veggie power to a light bulb instead of a calculator and what size LED light bulb should we use? Also, what is a "Resistor 10Kohm" ? We greatly appreciate any help we can get, this is his first project. I haven't had to work on a science project in many of years, I feel a bit lost, yet excited for him. Sincerely, Alisa Alligood

Hello,
The vegetable battery is a classic project. A light bulb can be used rather than a calculator, though I would suggest using a tiny incandescent light bulb or "miniature lamp" rather than an LED since you can easily find one at a store like Radio Shack that lights at just 1.5 volts -what the procedure indicated the vegetable battery would provide. The resistor is used in Experiment 1 to show that adding resistance to the battery lowers the voltage read by the voltmeter. 10 kohm (kilo-ohm) simply refers to the amount of resistance it applies, and you can find a resistor at an electronics store as well. A resistor is necessary for Experiment 1 or other explorations of resistance but it is not necessary for creating the vegetable battery or powering the light.
I hope this helps, have fun working on this project with your son!

Thank you very much for all your help. We will let yall know how everything turns out and what he receives after the fair.

alisaalligood wrote:To Whom It May Concern, veggie power science project, my 9 year old son whom is in 3rd grade is wanting to know how we can connect our veggie power to a light bulb instead of a calculator and what size LED light bulb should we use? Also, what is a "Resistor 10Kohm" ? We greatly appreciate any help we can get, this is his first project. I haven't had to work on a science project in many of years, I feel a bit lost, yet excited for him. Sincerely, Alisa Alligood

Alisaalligood,

I noticed from your post that the final due date isn't for a few more weeks. I just thought I'd follow up and see how the experiment is going and if you had any additional questions.