Ghanaian Student Uses Lemon To Generate Power

The energy crisis that has hit the country in recent times has not only caught the attention of policy makers who are trying to find lasting solutions to the problem, but has also generated some interest among junior high school students who are seeking scientific solutions to the problem. The search by the JHS students made a JHS Two student of the Anyinase D/A School in the Bosome Freho District of the Ashanti Region, Master Seth Dwumah, to use lemon to generate electricity. Master Dwumah�s project was adjudged the best at the just-ended Ashanti Regional Science, Technology and Mathematics Innovation Education (STMIE) camp organised by the regional education directorate. The one-week camp attracted 560 JHS Two students comprising 295 boys and 245 girls drawn from 23 districts in the Ashanti Region. Master Dwumah said he used rough lemon, copper wire, magnesium ribbon, beakers, voltmeter, ammeter, led (light emitting diode) and a switch for the project. According to the young scientist, the procedure of the experiment is to pour rough lemon juice into the five beakers with volume of between 50 and 70 millilitres; scratch off the coating from the copper wire; set the voltmeter, bulb and key on a plywood which measures 70 centimetres by 50 centimetres. After that, Master Dwumah said, he arranged the lemon juice in the beaker in line and connected that to the solutions with magnesium ribbon and copper wire in series and then connected the key to the circuit. After that, when the key/switch was turned on, the bulb lit. Master Joseph Oteng of the Mampongteng D/A JHS, the prefect of the camp, also had his project, which was the manufacture of a water treatment plant, placing second. Briefing the Junior Graphic, the Co-ordinator of the programme, Mr Gabriel Antwi, said the students were offered the opportunity to exhibit their science projects at a fair and were judged by a panel of science teachers. Mr Antwi also said, as part of the programme, the participants were taken through the Chief Examiner�s Report, Career Guidance and Counselling and motivation to arouse their interest in Science and Mathematics through practical Science exercises.