On our travels this week, we ended up at the phoenix Science Center. As we have lived in the area for almost 2 years we figured it was worth a trip to see what it is all about. If you live in the area and have not been there yet it is worth a trip. If you have little ones they will love it, and big kids at heart will find it entertaining also. On display until October is the Lego attractions, let me tell you who ever has that much time on their hands to create a giant race car that little kids can fit in is crazy, but it is so cool. We are going back again (I forgot the camera) and bringing with us our kid. You guessed it a grown up date and we went to the science museum.

Any way back to what I was getting to. As we were walking around I found a handout for creating a cleaner battery, and as we are all about home storage and survival gear here I figured I would grab one and try it out.

So here is your mission should you chose to accept it. Create a cleaner battery. What a great family project for the weekend and as you build this with your kids you can talk about emergency supplies and survival. Here is the pdf Build A Cleaner Battery for downloading with permission for downloading from Nova.

Batteries are all around us and are used for just about everything. With preparing for emergency situations, here is a fun family project that could come in handy if you ever lose power and need to create an alternative light source or power source. Kids will love making these and seeing how bright they can make the led light, or how loud they can get the buzzer to sound. Your kids will be wishing for the power to go out so they can use their homemade batteries.

Building a Cleaner Battery

List of Materials

Materials listed are for 1 Saltwater Battery

• 1 Plastic Cup
• 1 strip of copper (plumber’s strap) about 1 inch taller than your cup
• 1 Zinc Screw at least 2 inches long (can be either plated or galvanized)
• 6 Inches of insulated wire, to attach batteries together
• 1 Large alligator clip
• 3 tablespoon salt
• warm water
• 1.5 volt buzzer or Led light

Directions

Build a saltwater battery

• Combine the salt & water into your plastic cup, fill cup about 1 inch from the top.
• Using the alligator clip secure the screw to the side of the cup.
• Place the copper strip in the cup on the opposite side of the screw.

Connect the buzzer or Led light to your battery

• Touch the red wire to the copper strip & the black wire to the screw.

Build a super battery

1. Build more saltwater batteries by following the directions above.
2. Connect your saltwater batteries to make a super battery

• Using your wire wrap one end around the copper strip
• Wrap the other end of wire around the zinc screw or use the alligator clip to hold it on the screw
• Connect the next cup by taking the wire that is on the screw and attach it to the next cup’s copper strip.
• Continue like this until you complete your circuit.

Caution:   Make sure the wire is on the outside of the cup and not in the water.

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