In our class last Thursday we divided into our assigned groups for our project.  Our objective as a team was to provide an interesting project for high school kids to learn about energy.  After a bit of deliberation in our group we decided upon a project that would surprise the classroom as well as teach them about how energy can be created in the strangest of ways.  We plan upon constructing a battery capable of generating small amounts of electricity using only a stack of pennies and nickles.  By stacking the copper and nickle and adding salt and vinegar soaked pieces of paper the stack can create electricity.  The movement of the electrolytes in the solution comes from the ions in the dissolved salt reacting with the two different metals causing a positive and negative charge.  When hooked up to an LED we hope the makeshift battery will be able to provide enough power to light it.  If all goes as planned we should have a battery made with unusual materials that will hopefully pique the interest of the students.  We have all of our materials gathered and plan upon testing this process on Thursday.

A diagram of a voltaic pile...hopefully our project will look something like this

Works cited:

sciencebuddies.org provided us with the idea for this project

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Energy_p015.shtml#summary