That video claiming you can charge your phone with a lemon and a penny got 2 million views last week

I actually tried this myself after seeing it all over my feed. Got a lemon from the fridge, a copper penny from my car cup holder, and a zinc nail from my toolbox. Hooked it up to my old iPhone 6 with some alligator clips. After 15 minutes of waiting, the battery percentage didn't budge. I measured the voltage with a multimeter I borrowed from my neighbor, and it was barely 0.9 volts. A phone needs 5 volts minimum to even start charging. The video didn't show the part where they used like 20 lemons in series to get enough juice. It's basically a science demo, not a real life hack. Why do these things get so many views when a basic fact check takes two minutes? Has anyone else wasted time on this?

3 comments

3 Comments

casey81815d ago

Oh wow, so you mean a single lemon can't perform a miracle on a modern smartphone? Who would've guessed. I'm shocked, shocked I tell you that the internet lied to me for views. Next you'll tell me I can't actually run my car on a bottle of soda and a paperclip.

phoenix_grant14d ago

Wait, you're telling me my soda-powered road trip isn't happening?

wilson.olivia14d ago

You actually measured it with a multimeter? Thats more effort than the video creator put in for sure. They probably just spliced in a clip of a phone charging while the lemon sat there looking pretty for the camera. At this rate I'm waiting for the tutorial on how to power your whole house with a single potato and some wishful thinking.