Here are some things to do to finish this section.
What question did you think of that could be studied, or
observation could you make that is interesting or unexpected?
Send it to the Question board!
Discuss these questions with the people in your group. Please
send us a discussion of these three
questions. Don't forget to tell us the group name.
The battery you made was several simple batteries in series.
Use energy concepts to explain why this makes a higher voltage
battery.
In the battery you made, the wet parts were aways above a
zinc-coated washer and below a brass washer. What goes wrong if we
also get the surface above a brass washer and below a zinc-coated
washer wetted with the vinegar solution?
If your car has a dead battery, perhaps someone has jumper
cables and can help you get the car started. The instructions say
to connect the plus terminal of one battery to the plus terminal of
the other battery, and then connect the car frame of one car to the
car frame of the other car (this is equivalent to connecting the
negative terminals, as in diagram A).
Explain why this is the right
thing to do, both from the point of view of the dead battery and
from the point of view of your nonfunctioning car.
Other ways to connect the jumper cables would be to connect plus-to-minus,
minus-to-plus (diagram B), or to connect the batteries in series (by disconnecting the
wire at the positive terminal of the dead battery and connecting it instead
to the positive terminal of the good battery, and then connecting the
negative terminal of the good battery to the positive terminal of the
dead battery, as shown in diagram C). What unpleasant results would these
options give?
If there is something that you don't understand about batteries,
Ask us!
This is the end of this section. (Check this
box ) The next section is a summary of this module.
