Fruit & Vegetable Batteries

Two television shows I liked to watch were Gilligan's Island and MacGyver. I probably would have watched MacGyver no matter what it was about (photo says it all), but I liked how the Professor and MacGyver could make practically anything from the materials at hand. MacGyver made a compass using batteries, wire, tape, a paper clip, a cork, and a cup of water (verified by Mythbusters). Professor Roy Hinkley made glue and sealant from tree sap and batteries from fruit juice.

You can make the compass by running current through an unfolded paper clip to magnetize it, impaling a cork with the magnetic clip, and floating the cork in a cup of water. The Professor's sap glue really was only good for pancake syrup, though the premise was sound. You can make batteries from several different fruits and vegetables. For example, you can power a light bulb using citrus fruit or you can run an LED clock with a potato. For that matter, you can run wall current through a dill pickle and make it glow like a stinky green lightbulb (though that's not a project I'd recommend).

Photo: Richard Dean Anderson as MacGyver (Paramount Television)