00:00:10spare change in this video you’ll learn
00:00:12how to turn a handful of pennies into
00:00:13batteries that can power some of your
00:00:15small electronic devices
00:00:19[Music]
00:00:26you
00:00:27[Music]
00:00:33for this project I’ll need pennies my
00:00:36neighbor Trevor gave me these and I’ll
00:00:37begin sorting them by date I want
00:00:39pennies newer than 1982 because they’re
00:00:42nearly 98% zinc
00:00:43okay I’ve picked out 10 pennies that I
00:00:45think will work so I’ll use this 100
00:00:47grit sandpaper and start sanding one
00:00:49side of the penny actually this may be
00:00:51too much work so I’ll try some
00:00:52double-sided sticky tape and an orbital
00:00:54sander this is working much better to
00:00:57expose the zinc but the adhesive is
00:00:59melted from the friction and left these
00:01:00pennies in a sticky mess no problem I’ll
00:01:03just use some adhesive remover to clean
00:01:04them up and now they’re looking great
00:01:06it’s time to build a battery I’ll cut
00:01:08some thin cardboard into pieces just
00:01:10bigger than the penny and throw them in
00:01:11some vinegar while those are soaking
00:01:13I’ll start my battery cell by placing
00:01:15one of the pennies with the copper side
00:01:17down on a piece of aluminum foil as you
00:01:19can see nothing is happening yet so I’ll
00:01:21blot dry one of my cardboard pieces and
00:01:23place it on top this time when I measure
00:01:26the voltage I’m excited to see over half
00:01:27a volt from this one cell I’ll add
00:01:30another penny in cardboard and repeat
00:01:31the process until I’ve stacked up all my
00:01:33pennies now the cells are connected in
00:01:35series and the electric potential has
00:01:37jumped to nearly 6 volts Wow this should
00:01:40be more than enough voltage to drive an
00:01:42LED so I’ll test it out with this one it
00:01:45works perfectly and I can’t believe how
00:01:46brilliantly this lights up just for fun
00:01:49I’m testing the current draw and it’s
00:01:50pulling about 170 micro amps I can even
00:01:53light up two at once okay so it works
00:01:55and it’s actually really impressive that
00:01:57I’m getting electricity from Penny’s but
00:01:59now I’m curious to know how long this
00:02:01can last I’ll use some electrical tape
00:02:03told everything in place and try to fix
00:02:05these cardboard edges because they
00:02:07shouldn’t be touching I’ll do my best to
00:02:09make it airtight to prevent the wet
00:02:10cardboard from drying out too quickly
00:02:12and then carry it with me for the next
00:02:14couple of hours to watch for when it
00:02:16dies out okay so now it’s more than two
00:02:18days later and I really can’t believe
00:02:19what I’m seeing
00:02:20the green light is still on which means
00:02:23these little pennies are still pumping
00:02:24out juice this is awesome so I want to
00:02:27try another idea I’ve picked up a
00:02:29calculator from the dollar store and
00:02:30I’ll remove the screws on the back so I
00:02:32can get to the battery once that’s
00:02:34removed I’ll pull the negative and
00:02:35positive leads out of the casing and now
00:02:37I’ll need to make another penny battery
00:02:39this time I don’t feel like sanding the
00:02:41pennies so I’m adding these zinc washers
00:02:43I got from the hardware store for about
00:02:44three
00:02:44cents each I need around one and a half
00:02:47volts so I’ll use three pennies three
00:02:48washers and three pieces of cardboard
00:02:50soaked in vinegar this time I’ve rounded
00:02:53the cardboard edges so they won’t be a
00:02:54problem and I’ll stack them with the
00:02:56washer on the bottom the cardboard in
00:02:58the middle and the penny on the top this
00:03:00is one cell and I need three so I’ll
00:03:02stack up two more the penny on the top
00:03:05is the positive side and the zinc washer
00:03:07on the bottom is the negative I’m
00:03:09getting just over 2 volts and 700 micro
00:03:11amps so I’ll add wires to the terminals
00:03:13and use some more electrical tape to
00:03:15hold it together time to test it on the
00:03:17calculator I’ll press the on button and
00:03:19it’s incredible the calculator fires
00:03:21right up I’m testing out a few functions
00:03:23and everything calculates correctly so
00:03:26now I just need to clean these wires up
00:03:27a bit I’ll chip holes in the casing and
00:03:29hardwire my pennies into the battery
00:03:31leads then tape the penny stack to the
00:03:33back a penny powered calculator I really
00:03:36am impressed to how well this worked out
00:03:38and still patiently waiting for this
00:03:40little green light to die out well
00:03:42there’s an idea that’s worth a few cents
00:03:43if you liked this project perhaps you’ll
00:03:45like some of my others check them out at
00:03:47the king of random calm
00:03:55you
00:03:57[Music]
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