I remember when I was young and going through my junior scientist project book reading about making a small battery using coins. I never did it because there were a lot more interesting projects to do without using ice cream money! So what about you all? Did you ever do such a project? I just watched a YouTube video about how to do it and it looks simple enough. It may also explain why we see pennies with one side filed down.
No such projects here but all I had was my transistor radio with a single 9-volt battery. When the battery died I removed it and wrapped the posts with 2 5”-6” pieces of a soft solder that my dad had. Then I held the battery with insulated pliers. I was only 7 or 8 but smart enough to respect electricity. What I did next I do not recommend but it did work for me. I stuck the solder wires into the power plugs in the wall. The solder light up in a sudden flash and disappeared. Not a trace anywhere. The plug still work. No marks on the wall and my battery was fully charged.
Really? I can't imagine it would actually charge the battery. My parents knew I'd be upset if I couldn't listen to the Mercury space launches so they always had batteries for my transistor radio.
I just listened to the Oldies as we call them nowadays. I didn’t have a quarter to buy a new battery. Neither did my parents. To me nothing was better than hearing Herman’s Hermits, Little Richard or Jerry Lee Lewis on my transistor.
Ah, science projects from childhood. The good memories, which today's youth will never know. If it isn't instant gratification, they pass it by.
Yeah, I had one of those things, too. And two rudimentary computers! A couple of chemistry sets and a celery stick in a jar of water and red ink!
The only experiment I did with cents as a kid was when a buddy told me if I put one under my tongue and went to the nurse that it would raise my temperature and they would send me home…… Didn’t work though. Seems you aren’t supposed to let the school nurse see the cent when she inserts the thermometer.
If you hold a copper cent and a silver dime (hmmmm) in a v shape between your thumb and index finger and stick your tongue so it touches them both, it will taste sour because of the "battery" thus created.
Come on @Mountain Man their millennials, their parents will buy them batteries! The saving grace is when they advise the Social Security Administration that their parents worked for them and all they want is SS to continue the support chain. Reality has a tendency to "kick you in the butt" when needed, right!
I remember learning about electrolysis in school. Figured out I could put the wires from my HO train set transformer in a bowl of water, add an eyedropper of sulfuric acid out of the car battery. and make hydrogen gas. Yeah, I was a nerd, and ended up as an engineer.
I was 12 when Christmas came in 1957. My favorite gift was a crystal radio. The first song I heard was "El Paso" by Marty Robbins. If that doesn't age you, you're probably older than I am.
Remember late at night when you could get AM stations from hundreds of miles away? You might pick up a Twins game from Minnesota or a Cardinals game from St Louis. Seemed magical to me, now you can get anything you want anytime. Progress...