Cailyn Finkel -
Instead of plugging a lamp into a wall socket or flipping the switch
of your overhead light, try illuminating your room with a potato.
Yes - you read that correctly. With one scientific process, a simple
potato can light up an LED bulb for an entire month if it's done
correctly.
Haim Rabinovitch, a professor of science and agriculture, attached a
classic copper cathode and zinc anode together with a metal wire
conductor and let the potato "cook" for eight minutes. That's when he
discovered the charged potato could produce a harnessable form
of electricity.
This charge not only ran through the potato, but it had the
capability to illuminate an LED lightbulb bright enough to light a room
for over 40 days!
The specific compilation of elements with the potato is great for
scientific discovery and progress, but it's also helpful for third-world
countries that don't have the power, money or resources to use
electricity and modern-day light bulbs. However, if provided with
electronically charged potatoes (and it's made clear that they're not
for eating), these rural areas could be brightened without spending
millions in infrastructure overhauls.
There's an endless number of possibilities for these light-bearing vegetables, and Professor Haim is just getting started!
Learn even more about this incredible scientific vegetable battery here!