[CoolBeans]

I'm supposed to design a battery with these main materials:

1ml HCL. NaOH, NaCL, water
0.5cmx0.2cm Cu, Fe, Pb, Mg, Zn
4 filter paper strips
multimeter
1 petri dish

My teacher showed me the one with the Zn and CU strips in different beakers and the KNO3 salt bridge connecting the beakers.

But with so many metals and different solutions, I'm not sure if I'm even supposed to use all the metals together, or if some are for a neg.control trial. I'm really confused, I don't even know how to start it! Any hints so I would get how to do it would be gladly appreciated.

[Arkcon]

You've seen the teacher's example -- dissimilar metals in separate beakers, salt bridge and anemometer.  If you hadn't, or need a refresher, your textbook or Google can give you the diagram again.  What you need to know is what to put where.  OK, you have to investigate an important difference between all the metals.  Since you want some electricity from them, you need some property ... electro... something.  And if you want the electricity to flow, you need a conductive solution -- are all of your solutions good choices?

[CoolBeans]

Yes, I don't know where to put the metals, or how to use the solutions.

Would you look at which is the most highly reactive (Mg) and least reactive (Cu)?


Do you mean..electrolyte? But HCl, NaOH, NaCl, and water are the only solutions provided.

[Arkcon]

Check a few textbook pictures or online diagrams, yes I used some new words for you, but you are supposed to learn some new things on your own.  Reactivity is a good way to compare these metals, and it will work, but there's another term we use when building batteries to make ... electricity.

[Sophia7X]

Would you look at which is the most highly reactive (Mg) and least reactive (Cu)?

A chart of standard reduction potentials could help you make the best battery possible (look in textbook appendix).

[CoolBeans]

I think I'm understanding it. I am suppose to figure out which two metals would give me a potential difference of 1.2-1.4. In that case, zn & cu, or mg and fe. The filter paper would be used as the nacl bridge.

What I still am very confused about is how to use naoh and hcl.

[lily33]

You need NaCl as solution