Battery suggestion

For just an LED? You might try nickels, pennys, tissue paper and very salty water. You just have to figure out the right way to stack them together ;-)

daestrom

did National semi not give demos with oranges? I remeber some of these reps went around to give demos of low current devices. used 3 or four oranges connected together to provide enough power to run a micro. rw

I appreciate all the suggestions, but I am afraid that they will not work. I should have specified what type of LED. White LED: forward voltage 3.6V @20mA. BTW I am not the student, but I was a student just

In article , snipped-for-privacy@JailSpammers4years.net says... | | I appreciate all the suggestions, but I am afraid that they will not | work. I should have specified what type of LED. White LED: forward | voltage 3.6V @20mA. BTW I am not the student, but I was a student just | 50 years ago! | |

Two dissimilar pieces of metal plate (coins) pushed into fruit (orange, lemon), wire several in series to produce more voltage.

Of course they'll work. Add 'em up in series to get the required voltage.

I should have specified what type of LED. White LED: forward

Caustic chemicals are the best part of batteries. I don't think you can actually *have* a battery without caustic chemicals.

OK, strictly speaking, sulfuric acid isn't caustic, it's acidic...but you didn't want to just avoid lye, did you?

As a demo in high school chem I took some lead flashing, cut it into strips, stuck it into a 250 ml beaker full of dilute sulfuric acid, charged it for a while, and then connected it to a 2 V pilot lamp which lit quite nicely. You'd need at least two in series for a white LED - probably 3. And it's a rechargeable battery, too.

Bill

caustic

"Caustic" doesn't mean reactive.

Indeed. OTOH, NiMH batteries are fairly benign. One can safely throw them in the land-fill.

Car batteries are rather similar. ;-)

Sure you can. An Aluminium/Air cell uses salt water as it's electrolyte. Sea water works fine.

Hmmm...ok. But I bet sea water causes more corrosion than any other substance on Earth!

Bill

No problem. Take one of those compartmentalized plastic boxes with molded in partitions (each area holds water without leaking to the others).

Get some aluminum and copper flashing material. Cut the metal into rectangles or squares so that they fit down into the compartments and protrude ~1/2" or so.

Punch matching holes in both metals where they extend above the compartments and use some machine screws and nuts to fasten them. So you have tiny sheets of copper and aluminum fastened together at one end (a crimp, fold, or sometimes the punched hole will be enough to make a connection but a bolt lasts longer)

Slide the prepared plates of the battery into a pair of compartments over the partitioning plastic so that you have aluminum in one copper in the other and each compartment has both.

Fill compartments with electrolyte (lemon juice, salt water, or other weak electrolyte) Connect end plates to the LED. We powered a simple three transistor radio with one cell back in the days of germanium point contact transistors. I think we were getting about .5 volts per cell in the multiple batteries. I never measured the current output.

Try different electrolytes Lemon juice or vinegar work well.

Not really. Oxygen causes more corrosion than any other substance on Earth. And don't get me started on Dihydrogen Monoxide, the Invisible Killer...

(Note to the humor impaired: please consider the possibilitly that Bill and I are just having some fun here before firing up the flamethrower...)

Dihydrogen Monoxide, please! I spit on your Dihydrogen Monoxide. Hydrogen Hydroxide is clearly the often unseen killer.

"Firing up the flamethrower." Hmm, that's certainly a clear mental picture.

Conspiracy! "They" want you to believe that Dihydrogen Monoxide is the killer, when there are *Billions* of dollars made on Hydrogen Hydroxide.

Hydrogen Hydroxide is your friend!

Perhaps you've heard of it: a colorless, odorless liquid; a powerful coolant and solvent; an easily- synthesized compound which is used by industry, the military, commercial operations, and even private individuals.

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Hydrogen hydroxide is beneficial!

It has been shown that hydrogen hydroxide enhances the functionality, growth, and health of many forms of life-- including humans!-- and current research suggests that it has become an integral part of our planet's ecological balance.

Hydrogen hydroxide is environmentally safe!

Opponents of dihydrogen monoxide would have you believe that it is some kind of uber-toxin, that it wreaks caustic terror on anything it touches. This couldn't be farther from the truth; when handled properly, it enhances nature rather than destroys it, and even a worst-case scenario DHMO accident would be a trifle for the natural cycles of our world to handle.

Hydrogen hydroxide is benign!

The Coalition and others have popularized the label "dihydrogen monoxide" over the more chemically-accurate "hydrogen hydroxide" because they know how loaded the former name is. "Monoxide" has become synonymous with pollution, toxic gases, industrial waste-- and while hydrogen hydroxide is sometimes a factor in these problems facing our world today, it is rarely the dangerous element.

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Hmm, this seems all too familiar. De Ja Vu, all over again?