Published on Sep 28, 2024
Materials
potato
plate
2 pennies
2 galvanized nails
three 8 inch lengths insulated copper wire, each with 2 inches of the insulation stripped off one end
digital clock with attachments for wires
First, 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 wires coming out of the digital clock.
You'll probably have to try connecting the wires to the clock in different ways to get the energy to flow through the clock in the right direction.
It's just like putting batteries into a clock; they have to go in the right way.