1) It reminds you electricity is indeed a natural phenomenon
2) It makes you feel like a little kid again, like when you turn on the t.v. and your favorite episode of Hey! Arnold is on.
The Pregame: Why lemons?
When two electrodes are immersed in a electrolyte the electrodes react chemically to the electrolyte and an electric current is produced. In the lemon's case, the lemon juice is the electrolyte and the zinc coated nail/copper coated penny are the electrodes. When the nail comes in contact with a strong acid they have a chemical reaction in which electrons are liberated from the zinc. The free electrons quickly become crowded on the nail and need to find a way off.
When the penny is connected to the chemically reacting zinc (via a wire made of conductive material) the electrons rush off the zinc nail to the positive copper penny creating a electric current.
My Lemon Battery:
The nails (I used galvanized screws) and the pennies were sunk into two slices of lemon and connected to my little 1.5V LED, connections were made via thin medium gauge wire and the LED promptly proved it's useless worth by (again!) failing to light.
I checked the multimeter again and got this happy reading.
Troubleshooting:
In my case the wired used did not work as expected as a more experienced electronic noob I'll would suggest using jumper cables or something of the sort. I did actually get 2V from the lemon when one multimeter probe was put on the copper penny and one put on the screw.
RESULTS: One disappointing LED, a obliterated lemon and 2 volts squeezed from a yellow fruit.
THINGS THAT MIGHT BE IN YOUR HEAD RIGHT NOW:
Gatorade is indeed a electrolyte and you could theoretically pull some electric current from it if set up the same way.
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