Check out My Salt Water Battery

Is there any way you could send me a picture or even make a video and post it so I can see what you have.

An AA battery is 1.5 volts. Most likely the LED needs more. Maybe 3 volts.

I used 6 coffee cups and it didnt work

good job.

well done sir

I tried using only a AA battery, 2 pieces of copper wire, LED light, and alligator clips, but it didn't work. Can you help me.

It will work the first time but you must build it to fit the applacation.
Stick to LEDs for now.
Each cup is a cell. Salt water copper and galvinized metal. Each cell makes .8 volts. Wire the cells in series to up the voltage. Incress the size of the copper & galvinized to up the amperage. 5 cells will give you 4 volts and metal the size I used will give you 6 millie amps. plenty to light a small LED for 10 days.
an LED flash light at the dollar store and us the bulb. A lot cheaper.

So I have to make this thing tomorrow , so will it work and make the LED light light up the first time I try it. And how many coffee mugs do you will think it will take to light up 130 volt 60 watt Sylvania light bulb and if it could work where would you put the two ends of the jumper cables at. And will the LED light or the light buld blow up?

You are welcome. Glad I could help.

Thanks, I am using this for my science project!

dont listen to this guy above.. hes a burn out

What if you closed the loop and ran the circiut with no load, would you get any electrolysis? What if you ran concentric tubes of copper over galvanized or vice-versa? I am fascinated by this, I'm going to the store this weekend and playing with this one!

What about trying different electrolytes, like baking soda, or some of the different potassium or sodium compounds? What about zinc paint to recoat the steel? What about Zinc Dust? Can the copper be sanded/cleaned to be re used?

You are 100% correct; Like a lead acid battery. I should cal it a zink salt water battery
And you are correct about the scrap metal. Once the zink is gone you take the metal to the scrap yard and sell it.

i don't know much about electricity but from my understanding, this is not a salt water battery, it's a copper/galvanized metal battery, the salt acts as an electrolyte to facilitate the transport of electrons between the 2 electrodes. still very interesting to be able to make power with scraps of metals and little else. i wouldn't worry so much about how often to add salt but doesn't the plates corrode over time? then again, if it's fee, doesn't really matter. thanks for the idea :)

10 to 12 days Thanks