Le 15/09/2011 11:09, Invisible a écrit :
> 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?
> 

Please go to a chemistry class about oxydo-reduction.


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

Yep, as long as it has a different value for Redox-potential than zinc.
The tension will also be different. But using something not copper means
that you will also have more junctions to take into account (especially
if your lines are still made of copper).

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

It might be related to the speed of oxydation of zinc: the surface get
quickly covered in a glass of water (if not already in the air) and it
isolate the core.
Inside a potato, the mechanical insertion might strips the surface of
its oxyd and then it may protect it from free oxygen.


> 
> More questions than answers...


-- 
Software is like dirt - it costs time and money to change it and move it
around.

Just because you can't see it, it doesn't weigh anything,
and you can't drill a hole in it and stick a rivet into it doesn't mean
it's free.

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