Why Does Citric Acid Produce Electricity?
Citric Acid Citric acid is a weak organic acid with the molecular formula C6H8O7, which means a molecule of the acid contains six carbon atoms, eight hydrogen atoms, and seven oxygen atoms. When it is dissolved in water, it partially ionizes to yield three H+ ions (hydrogen atoms which are missing their electron) and a C6H5O7(3-) ion (the 3- means that it has three extra electrons.) The resulting solution is called an “electrolyte.” Chemical Reaction jQuery(document).ready(function(){ jQuery(‘#jsArticleStep1 span.image a:first’).attr(‘href’,’http://i.ehow.com/images/a05/0k/5k/citric-acid-produce-electricity-2.1-800X800.jpg’); }); When two dissimilar metals are put in an electrolyte, a chemical reaction called “oxidation-reduction” occurs. Because different metals have different levels of attraction for their electrons, one of the metals will lose electrons, a process which chemists call oxidation, and the other gains electrons, which is called reduction. The metal being oxidized is cal
