Construction Of A
Battery
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An Experiment to Determine the Materials and Design of a Nine Volt
Battery
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Part One
Part Two
Data
Table
Questions
PROCEDURE
CClick here for an
Electric
Potential Difference Table
CUse formula E cell=E Cathode-E Anode to determine the greatest
voltage potential from the possible metals.
CSample Calculations
E cell=Flourine-Lithium
E cell=+2.87-(-3.04)
E cell=5.91 V
E cell=Copper Magnesium
E cell=+.34-(-2.37)
E cell=2.71 V
CONCLUSION
CWhile a
Flourine-Lithium battery would be optimal, for the sake of simplicity and
availability, a Copper-Magnesium battery will be attempted.
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MATERIALS
CTwo 150 mL Beakers
CDistilled Water
CNaCl (Table Salt)
CCopper Strips
CZinc Strips
CAluminum Strips
CMagnesium Strips
CTin Strips
CPaper Towels
PROCEDURE
CPrepare 400mL of a
5 M NaCl solution
CFill
two beakers with 150mL each of the solution and retain 100mL in a separate
beaker.
CThoroughly dampen
paper towel (folded lengthwise) in the 100mL of solution that is left and drape
it across the two beakers. Each end of the paper towel must be partially
submerged in the solution.
CPlace a strip of aluminum in one beaker, and a strip of copper in
the other, making sure the tops of the strips are not below the surface of the
solution.
CConnect one
electrode of the voltmeter to the aluminum and the other to the copper.
CIf the reading on the
voltmeter is negative, simply reverse the placement of the electrodes to the
metals.
CRepeat for all
combinations of metals.
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| Metal |
Cell Makeup Voltage |
Picture |
| Aluminum-Copper |
0.53 |
 |
| Tin-Zinc |
0.57 |
 |
| Aluminum-Magnesium |
0.80 |
 |
| Copper-Zinc |
0.82 |
 |
| Aluminum-Zinc |
0.29 |
|
| Aluminum-Tin |
0.26 |
|
| Copper-Magnesium |
1.40 |
|
| Copper-Tin |
0.23 |
|
| Magnesium-Zinc |
0.60 |
|
| Magnesium-Tin |
1.18 |
|
ANALYSIS
CBetween the
different combinations of the cells, a wide range of voltages were recorded. The
results ranged from 0.23 volts for Copper-Tin to 1.4 volts for Copper-Magnesium.
The Magnesium-Tin cell, as well as the Copper-Zinc cell, which had 1.18 and 0.82
volts respectively, produced the only other reasonably high voltages. All
voltage values varied considerably from any of the theoretical voltages that
should have been obtained. For example, a Copper-Magnesium cell should have
acquired around two volts. Instead, it's voltage was a relatively low 1.4 volts.
CONCLUSION
CExperimentally, a
Copper-Magnesium battery produced the highest voltage between all other metal
combinations.
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1)What would be the
voltage of the following cells: Aluminum-Copper? Zinc-Aluminum?
2)Why is it believable that the voltages
would be lowered when using NaCl, instead of using an acid, such as H2SO4?
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