How To: Make a Battery Out of Pennies

Using copper pennies (be sure they are older than 1983), lemon juice, paper towels and sandpaper, you can construct your own DIY battery that generates enough juice to light up an LED.

The process is simple: simply sand down one side of a penny with sandpaper (be careful not to scratch your fingers) until its zinc core is exposed. Repeat for five other pennies.

Afterwards, soak penny-sized paper towel disks in lemon juice (add a dash of salt) for ten minutes. Then, create a multi-layered battery alternating between sandpapered pennies and lemon juice-soaked paper towels, with the zinc side of the pennies all facing the same way.

For other variations, you can use cardboard in lieu of paper towels or salt water in lieu of lemon juice.

Click on image to enlarge.