On 14/09/2011 07:49 PM, Warp wrote:
> Invisible<voi### [at] devnull>  wrote:
>> Potato batteries. OK, how the /hell/ can that possibly work? I mean,
>> seriously. Lemon batteries work because lemons are filled with lemon
>> juice, one of the most acidic foodstuffs known to Man. But potatoes?
>> They hardly contain any liquid at all, and (if taste is anything to go
>> by) it's not even /slightly/ acidic. Any yet, apparently it can generate
>> an electrical potential. How?!
>
>    Ever heard of google? Or wikipedia?

What, you don't think I didn't try that already?

>    "The energy for the battery does not come from the lemon or potato,
>    but rather the chemical change in the zinc (or other metal).

>    The lemon or potato merely provides an environment
>    where this can happen, but they are not used up in the process.
>
>    In current practice, zinc is produced by electrowinning of zinc
>    sulfate or pyrometallurgic reduction of zinc with carbon. The energy
>    produced originates from this source."

 From that description, it sounds like zinc itself contains energy. 
Which raises a few questions:

1. Why do you need a fruit at all? Why can't you just extract the energy 
from the zinc?

2. Why does the other electrode need to be copper? If the energy comes 
from the zinc, surely *any* metal will do?

3. Why does using a potato work, but using a glass of water doesn't?

More questions than answers...

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