Thermochemistry Project

By Taylor Boothe, Tyler Marvier, Rohan Ayyar

and Wilson Perry
Overview to Electrochemistry

The exchange between electric and chemical energy

Electrons flow along a circuit and in a oxidation reaction

electric energy is formed.

(For a more detailed explanation please see the next slide)

Scientific Principles

Electrons move from the anode to the cathode, the oxidation

reaction occurs in the anode strip and the reduction takes
place on the cathode strip which helps the electricity flow.
This reaction can occur when there is an acid, salt or
electrolyte with the metals to create a reaction.

Works the same as lemon battery - Lemon, Soda/Electric

Playdough is electrolyte & conductor

Electrodes - zinc nail and copper penny, copper and zinc

strip, aluminum and zinc strip
Forms of Energy

Forms of energy used are electric and chemical energy

Electric energy - The light

Chemical energy - The reaction that happens with the

electrolytes/ acid in the playdough and Gatorade
3 Different Batteries
Electric
Lemon Battery
1 2 Soda Battery 3 Playdough
Basis
Battery
Electrolyte - Lemon Electrolyte - The Electrolyte - The
Juice sodium present in soda Lemon Juice in the
playdough
Electrodes - zinc nail Electrodes - zinc nail
and copper penny and copper strip from Electrodes - zinc nail
soda can and copper wire
Conductor - Lemon
Juice Conductor - Soda Conductor - The
Playdough
Reason for using our batteries

● Soda has a high concentration of sugars and electrolytes

● Gatorade has a higher concentration of electrolytes than
soda
● Lemon juice and salt have a high concentration of
electrolytes
● Lemon juice contains citric acid, and that charges anions
and cations when dissolved in water, they conduct
electricity because they have charged particles.
Blueprint
Trial 1 results/goals

1st experiment did not light any LED’s.

1. Up the concentration
Batteries didn’t have concentrated-enough electrolytes

2. Get rid of useless material

More electrolyte based drinks - Gatorade

3. Try Again!
Soda
- Add a zinc strip & copper strip
- Use Gatorade (more electrolyte,
less trash)
- Also try adding lemon juice and
salt if not enough
- Using magnesium conductors for
both
Electric Dough
Cut the electric dough into 2
pieces:
- 1 (2 cups of lemon juice)
- 2 (2 cups of salt)
Higher concentration, ratio of
electrolyte to rest of material is
up
Results

Charge Electric Soda Salt Lemon Juice Gatorade

Playdough Battery Playdough Playdough
(1st Trial) (1st
Trial)

Copper/zinc 0.64 0.42 0.8 0.8 0.91

(Volts)

Copper & N/A N/A 1.6 1.5 1.78

Magnesium
(Volts)

Did it Light NO NO NO NO NO
LED
What did we do wrong?

Losses of Energy: Electric playdough:

-Energy produced wasn’t Citric acid is not a strong enough
concentrated acid to create a strong electric
current
-Tested with Voltmeter first

-Mixed different forms of energy

(salt, lemon juice, Gatorade)
What we can change for next time

Gatorade: Electric Playdough:

-Use Magnesium to conduct/transfer -More lemon juice in dough, higher
the energy ratio of lemon juice to other parts

-Use more Gatorade, more -Use Magnesium to conduct/transfer

electrolytes the energy

-Try different Sports drinks or -No mixing elements containing

high electrolyte drinks electrolytes (Salt Dough)

-Make sure not to mix elements -using more than one cell for the
containing electrolytes battery

-using more than one cell for the -different acid

battery
Thank you!

Any questions?