Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

The potatoes we used for our potato clock were really old, I mean they were so old they were starting to sprout roots. Could that be the reason the clock didn't work. I am positive we had them connected right. We even touched the battery to the alligator clips and the clock worked. But as soon as we took the battery away the screen went crazy and looked something like this: l l l l l l l and it just kept flashing. I would greatly appreciate your input because his project is due in a few hours and I don't have time to go and get any more potatoes.

I am not familiar with the experiment you were trying to reproduce. If you give me more information, perhaps we can figure out what your problem is.