my son is making a battery using potatoes and lemons however we can's get zinc  what else can i use?
112630
You need two different kinds of metal. Copper is easy for one. The other can be almost any non-copper metal. Simple trial and error should show you a good choice. \n\nTry: nails, silverware, pointy tools (screwdrivers), bits of metal from craft or hobby jobs, coat hangers, etc. You can even jam coins in there!
751234
An acid dip will do it. The problem being that the acid will eat the zinc too.  SO, use a dilute acid, such as muriatic. Which is dilute hydrochloric acid.  Nitric, and phosphoric acid would also work. Make sure you don't use a concentrated acid, as it is not needed, and can be quite dangerous.  There is a good chance that a commercial AC coil cleaning solution (inhibited dilute phosphoric I believe) would do the job.  Once the copper is removed, make sure to use tongs to remove the penny, and then rinse it well to stop the action of the acid.
442899
Manganese and manganese dioxide. Also potassium iodide does a good job.
513117
use a potato and two different metals as electrodes. The link will help you, do your own homework, or web searching atleast! it was the second link in google for g** sake!
29248
here's what you need:\n\n1.18-gauge copper wire (smaller gauge will work too,2. but 18-gauge is stiffer)\n3.Wire clippers\n4.Steel paper clip (Some people find that a 2-inch 5.strip of zinc works better) \n6.Sheet of coarse sandpaper\n7.Lemon\n8.Help from an older friend or an adult\n\n\nhere's what you need to do:\n\n\nHave your older friend or an adult strip 2 inches of insulation off the copper wire. Clip the 2 inches of bare wire with the clippers.\n\nStraighten out the paper clip and cut about 2 inches of the straightened steel wire, or use a 2-inch piece or strip of zinc.\n\nUse sandpaper to smooth any rough spots on the ends of the wire and paper clip or piece of zinc.\n\nSqueeze the lemon gently with your hands. But don't rupture the lemon's skin. Rolling it on a table with a little pressure works great. \n \nPush the pieces of the paper clip and the wire into the lemon so they are as close together as you can get them without touching.\n\nMoisten your tongue with saliva. Touch the tip of your wet tongue to the free ends of the two wires.\n\nYou should be able to feel a slight tingle on the tip of your tongue and taste something metallic.\n\n\n\nwhat you will discover\n\nThe lemon battery is called a voltaic battery, which changes chemical energy into electrical energy.\n\nThe battery is made up of two different metals (the steel paper clip and the copper wire). These are called electrodes, which are the parts of a battery where electric current enters or leaves the battery. The electrodes are placed in a liquid containing an electrolyte, which is a solution that can conduct electricity.\n\nIn a solution of water and an electrolyte, like the acid in the lemon, an excess of electrons collects on one end of the electrodes. At the same time, electrons are lost from the other electrode.\n\nTouching the electrodes to your tongue closes the circuit and allows an small electric current to flow. A single lemon produces about 7/10 of a volt of electricity. If you connected two lemons together, you can power an inexpensive digital watch (uses about 1.5 volts). (Use a length of thin, flexible wire to connect the silver wire of one lemon to the copper wire of the other lemon. Then attach thin wires from the other two wires in the lemons to where a battery's positive and negative poles connect to power the watch.)\n\nThe tingle felt in your tongue and the metallic taste is due to the movement of electrons through the saliva on your tongue.\n\n\n--well, i just searched for it. hope i helped in a way ^_^\n\n-paul
788768
Just the usual stuff.  Use an electrolyte (H2SO4/HNO3), a couple of electrodes, a reduction table of half cell potentials, and some electricity.
620945
Item List:\n\n1. Potato \n2. Plate \n3. 2 pennies \n4. 2 galvanized nails \n5. Three(3) 8 inch lengths insulated copper wire, each with 2 inches of the insulation stripped off one end \n\nHow to do it\n\nFirst, cut a potato in half and put the two halves on a plate so they stand on their flat ends. The plate is there to keep your table clean. Then, wrap the end of one piece of wire around a galvanized nail and wrap the end of a second piece of wire around a penny. Stick the nail and penny into one half of the potato so that they're not touching each other. Next, wrap the third piece of wire around the other penny and put it into the other half of the potato. Put the other nail into the second half of the potato, but this nail should not have wire wrapped around it. Now, connect the wire from the penny on the first half of the potato to the nail that has no wire on it in the second half of the potato. Finally, touch the free ends of the wires to the battery section of the item you are trying to power. One wire goes to the positive(+) connection and the other wire goes to the negative(-) connection.\n \nDoes it work? \n\nYou'll probably have to try connecting the wires to the item in different ways to get the energy to flow through it in the right direction. It's just like putting batteries into a clock; they have to go in the right way.
647809
Chemicals... mostly some kinda acid. And some have nickle in it, but I donno if it'll be a solid (metal) or a liquid form. Bust one open and ya'll find out whats really in one.\n\nAnd also that's why they tell ya not to leave patteries in electonics for long periods of time with no use, cause the battery would start to leak the acid and it could fry the system.
906964
Here's a tip, leave the baking soda and something a bit complicated.  Like a Lemon battery. I have a site that has choc loads of interesting things.  Most of all very simple.
156693
I know of no copper-based solar cells.  They involve some silver alloys deposited on silicon semi-conductors.  If you need a copper based cell, try a strip of copper and a strip of zinc in a potato or lemon.  It will make enough power for an LCD cheapo clock or watch to run off for a long time.  \n\nThe chemistry, heat, and equipment needed to generate semiconductor material is way beyond the home-experimenter's abilities and budget.
425947
You need copper, and any sized battery. Then you need to do some playing around with it. Or you could just go here and do what they tell you.
55953
Make a battery from a lemon!\n\nhttp://www.energyquest.ca.gov/projects/lemon.html
427444
Here is everything you need to know about Zinc Nitrate. http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/z3137.htm
103404
Just how much Hydrogen do you want to produce?\nI could tell you several ways to make small amounts for next to no cost, but if you want to step up production, it will involve increase the price too.\n\nElectrolysis of water is probably the cheapest method, especially when the energy your using is cheap/free too.  The cheaper the energy, the cheaper the over all price.  The energy from a battery is much more expensive than the energy "out of the wall" which is much more expensive than energy from the sun (free).\n\nYou could also produce Hydrogen by reacting a more active metal in an acid.  Metals like Iron, Zinc, Magnesium, (you could use the Alkili metals, but I woulnt advise it), ...\nCopper (in a penny) wouldnt work since it is less active than Hydrogen, but the zinc inside the penny would. [we ignore the cost of the penny you have to destroy]
986906
You could use the batteries to electrolyse brine (ordinary table salt dissolved in water), causing chlorine and hydrogen gas to build up. If you could contain the hydrogen and chlorine somehow and let it build up to high pressure, you could let the pressure propel the rocket, or (if you allow air/oxygen in somehow) you could ignite the hydrogen.\n\nTry searching electrolysis on google for more info if you don't know what I'm talking about.
130064
CONCLUSION\n\nIn the course of these experiments, you have become familiar with various concepts such as the conductivity of solutions by way of dissolved ions. you have seen redox reactions at work, and that they can be reversed by running current through the circuit. You have learned to measure potentials of reduction of various materials and to predict the voltage generated by a battery when you know it's material components. You can build a working battery from various materials, including lemons, tomatoes, potatoes, almost any fruit or vegetable. Up until now, batteries may have seemed mysterious, but now we are among the few that have a working knowledge of how and why they work. You can amaze your friends by building a battery out of almost anything, but more important than this, now the study and mastery of this subject will be easier and more meaningful\n\nsee the full answer here:
183510
Try Zinc tablets u will shoot further 2