In the process of doing a science project on the above topic that is due Monday, Jan 28th, we built a, electric circuit with a 6 volt battery, 3 copper wires (14 gauge) with alligator clips attached to each stripped end (except for the ones we were going to insert into the fruits and veges.) and we originally used a 6volt lightbulb. We built the circuit fine and it worked with all materials other than fruit and vegetables and we tried water and salt water. From reading websites we know that certain fruits and veges can be a conductor, a potato, lime, etc. We were so fustrated when this wasn't working. We even tried a light from the string of small Christmas lights and still didn't work. So we decided to use the light bulb from a small keychain flashlight. We're not exactly sure what size it is in watts or volts, but our experiment ended up working, it showed all the fruits/veges conducted, some better than others. Even though your website says to use a 6volt light bulb when doing the "Which Materials Are the Best Conductors" experiment, is that only if you are using materials other than fruits/veges. Is that to big of a volt for the experiment we are conducting? Which size would you suggest? We know we said ours finally worked, but we would like to know the size we should have used, also we want to be able to list the right size on the Materials part of the project. Any information you can provide would be appreciated.
Thank you.
JS41
Can Fruit and Vegetables Conduct Electricity?
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John Furman
- Former Expert
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Mon Nov 05, 2007 9:33 pm
Re: Can Fruit and Vegetables Conduct Electricity?
Hi jjjv,
I think your experiment has shown that vegetables are conductors. If there was an electric path from the battery -to the wire -then to the vegetable -then to the light and then back to the battery the light will come on. The light will not come on if any one of the objects in the path from the battery to the light and back to the battery does not conduct electricity.
The voltage marked on the light is a "recommended voltage" to be applied across the light for best lighting results. If the voltage across the light is significantly lower than the recommend voltage the light would not perform as well as desired.
Have Fun,
John
I think your experiment has shown that vegetables are conductors. If there was an electric path from the battery -to the wire -then to the vegetable -then to the light and then back to the battery the light will come on. The light will not come on if any one of the objects in the path from the battery to the light and back to the battery does not conduct electricity.
The voltage marked on the light is a "recommended voltage" to be applied across the light for best lighting results. If the voltage across the light is significantly lower than the recommend voltage the light would not perform as well as desired.
Have Fun,
John