What does citric acid do to make the lemon battery work?
Acid’s are unstable compounds, that is how they work, acids have Hydrogen atoms attached to it that are not bonded strongly. Chemicals want to reach a state where they are stable so they will react with other chemicals until they reach a final state where all the atoms are bonded strongly. When two different metals (like copper and zinc), are placed in an acid, the acid will drop 2 hydrogen atoms to replace it with a zinc atom. When the zinc atom joins the acid compound, it has two leftover electrons which stay on the main body of zinc. The two hydrogen atoms in the meantime take two electrons from the copper and become a hydrogen gas molecule, (h2). In the end, the zinc has two extra electrons, and the copper is missing two, when connected by a wire, the electrons flow from the zinc to the copper, in order to balance the electrical difference.
