CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION a. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Vinegars had been used at home solely for cooking. Most people are not aware that it actually has other uses at home like lighting small LED bulbs. Thus, when the researchers came across this project on the internet, we grabbed the opportunity of proving whether or not this is a possibility. With the cheap and readily-available materials, this project can provide households with an alternative source of light that can easily be done and replicated. Although this may seem as a step back for advancements in technology because it makes use of household materials instead of more complicated ones, this is one step ahead towards innovation. b. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Can Vinegar be used as a battery for lighting small LED bulbs? c. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The researchers chose this investigatory project of vinegar being used as a battery for lighting LED lights for two of its possible contributions to the community: first, it can be used as a safe, better and cheaper alternative to sources of lights in case of blackouts, and second, people can use it as an alternative source of light at home to lower their power consumption.
The Philippines is an archipelago surrounded by large bodies of water making it susceptible to typhoons. The last devastating typhoon, Yolanda, had left Leyte and other parts of the country in turmoil with no food, water, and electricity for not just days but for months, and this will not be the last time that a huge typhoon will hit the country and leave another part of our archipelago helpless. With this project, the researchers wish to provide the people, especially those in provinces who are most badly affected by these typhoons, with an alternative source of light in their homes without having to spend too much and with readily-available materials at night.
Another problem that our country is facing is the rising cost of electricity. As the years go by, electricity bills have increased dramatically making it harder and harder for the public to pay for their bills. Or if they can pay for their bills, they have to sacrifice other needs and wants to make ends meet. Using vinegar, a readily-available material at home, as a source of light in the home can lower one’s power consumption. This means a lower electricity bill every month and more money to spend on more important needs in the home like food, water, and tuition fees.
The researchers, thus, pursued this project with these two goals in mind because we believe that with its success comes a “brighter” future for every Filipino household. d. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
In this investigatory project, the researchers merely want to know the possibility of vinegar being used as a battery for lighting small LED bulbs. It will neither focus on the possibility of vinegar being used to power other appliances at home nor to the other possible uses of vinegar.

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE a. LITERATURE AND STUDIES
How Batteries Work
There are a lot of different kinds of batteries, but they all function based on the same concept. A battery is a device that is able to store electrical energy in the form of chemical energy, and convert that energy into electricity. Batteries cannot catch and store electricity, but it can store electrical energy in the chemicals inside a battery.
There are three main components of a battery: two terminals made of different chemicals (typically metals), the anode and the cathode; and the electrolyte, which separates these terminals. The electrolyte is a chemical medium that allows the flow of electrical charge between the cathode and anode. When a device is connected to a battery—a light bulb or an electric circuit—chemical reactions occur on the electrodes that create a flow of electrical energy to the device. The extra electrons at the anode want to flow to the cathode because it has fewer electrons and they’re trying to balance out the voltage. More specifically: during a discharge of electricity, the chemical on the anode releases electrons to the negative terminal and ions in the electrolyte through what’s called an oxidation reaction. Meanwhile, at the positive terminal, the cathode accepts electrons, completing the circuit for the flow of electrons. The electrolyte is there to put the different chemicals of the anode and cathode into contact with one another. The ions created in the oxidation reaction transport current through the electrolyte while the electrons flow in the external circuit, and that’s what generates an electric current.
Copper, Zinc, and Acid
In the case of the copper and zinc strips, the copper holds onto its atoms more strongly than the zinc does. The zinc strip is therefore more negative than the copper strip, and the electrons flow from the zinc to the copper.
When the forces are eventually balanced, the copper strip ends up with more electrons than the zinc strip. The zinc strip now has fewer electrons, and it cannot attract the zinc ions back to the strip.
If our battery just had water in it, not much more would happen. But this vinegar battery has water plus acetic acid. An acid is something that has an easily detached hydrogen ion. Hydrogen ions are positive, and the remaining part of the acid becomes negative when it loses the hydrogen ion. In these two batteries, the remaining parts are the phosphate ion and the acetate ion, respectively.
So what happens when all of those positively charged zinc ions bump into those negatively charged phosphate ions? The phosphate ion is more strongly attracted to the zinc ion than to the hydrogen ion. The positively charged hydrogen ion is attracted to the copper strip, because the copper strip has the extra electrons, and is thus negative (opposite charges attract).
The hydrogen ions attract the electrons from the copper, and become neutral hydrogen atoms. These join up in pairs to become hydrogen molecules, and form bubbles on the copper strip. Eventually the bubbles become big enough to float up to the surface and leave the system entirely.
Now the copper strip no longer has the extra electrons. It attracts more from the zinc strip through the connecting wire, as it did when we first connected the wire.
The copper ions next to the copper strip are not as attracted to the strip as they were before. The hydrogen ions keep taking the electrons that attracted the copper ions. So those ions are free to move through the liquid.
At the zinc strip, zinc ions are being removed, leaving extra electrons. Some of those electrons travel through the wire to the copper strip. But some of them encounter the copper ions that happen to bump into the zinc strip. Those ions grab the electrons, and become copper atoms. We can see those atoms build up on the zinc strip. They look like a black film, because the oxygen in the water combines with the copper to form black copper oxide.
Eventually, all of the zinc is eaten up, and the copper and copper oxide falls into a pile beneath where the zinc strip used to be. The battery is now dead, and no more electrons flow through the wire. If there was not a lot of acid in the water, it may be the first thing to be used up, and the battery may die while there is still some zinc left on the zinc strip. b. DEFINITION OF TERMS
b.1 Battery - a device that is able to store electrical energy in the form of chemical energy, and convert that energy into electricity. Batteries cannot catch and store electricity, but it can store electrical energy in the chemicals inside a battery.
b.2 Vinegar – a sour liquid consisting of impure and dilute acetic acid obtained from acetous fermentation from wine, beer, ale and the like.
b.3 Copper - a common reddish metallic element that is ductile and malleable and is one of the best conductors of heat and electricity.
b.4 Zinc - a bluish-white metallic element that is ductile when pure but in the commercial form is brittle at ordinary temperatures and becomes ductile on slight heating, occurs abundantly in minerals, is an essential micronutrient for both plants and animals, and is used especially in alloys and as a protective coating in galvanizing iron and steel.
b.5 Multimeter - an instrument designed to measure electric current, voltage, and usually resistance, typically over several ranges of value.

CHAPTER III: METHODOLGY a. RESEARCH DESIGN
The researchers used experimentation in proving whether or not vinegars can be used as batteries for lighting small LED bulbs. b. MATERIALS * multimeter(s) * ice tray * vinegar * copper wire * galvanized (zinc-coated) nails * low current and low voltage LEDs c. PROCEDURE 1. First, wrap copper wires into each nail near its head. Around 5 to 10 nails with copper wire would do depending on how long you want the battery to be. 2. Pour some vinegar into 6 of the slots in the ice tray. 3. Place a nail with copper wire on each slot facing the same direction. 4. Once finished, place the LED light at the end of the tray and watch it light up! 5. If it does not light up, just flip it. 6. If you want to know the current produced by the vinegar battery, use the multimeter to measure it by placing one end of the multimeter in one of the nail’s head and the other to the end of a copper wire.

CHAPTER IV: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION a. FINDINGS After conducting the experiment, the researchers was able to prove that vinegar, with the help of copper wires and nail can light up a small LED bulb. We also found out that the longer is the series of nails and copper, the higher is the electric current produced by the our vinegar battery. We started off with 6 slots and 5 nails with copper wire and it produced a current of up to 2.2 volts. Next, we tried again with 8 slots and 7 nails with copper wire and the current it produced was up to 3.1 volts. The last was 10 slots with 9 nails which produced current of up to 3.4 volts. b. ANALYSIS OF DATA This data means that, indeed, vinegar can help light small LED bulbs. The more are the slots with vinegar, nail and copper, the more current it produces. The nail serves as the negative of a normal battery while the copper wire is the positive. Electric current flows through it, into the vinegar, then to the next copper and nail until it finally reaches the LED light causing it to light up. If this innovation can be further improved, it can help mankind a lot because it is a cheaper alternative source of energy at home that can easily be done.

CHAPTER V: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION and RECOMMENDATION a. SUMMARY From this experiment, the researchers were able to find out that, indeed, vinegar, with the help of copper and zinc, can cause a small LED bulb to light up. The longer is the chain of nails with copper wire is, the stronger the current produced and the stronger the light becomes. Although it took the researchers several tries before the experiment was a success, it nevertheless, was a success. Vinegar, indeed, is useful not only for cooking but for lighting up homes that had long been in the dark.
b. CONCLUSION We, the researchers, therefore conclude that vinegar can light small LED bulbs.
c. RECOMMENDATION The research focused only on the capacity of vinegar for lighting LED bulbs. Further research on other small appliances at home that can be lighted by vinegar may be done. Also, further research may also be conducted on other uses of vinegar other than as a battery. It may have other components that can be made useful. If these are pursued, people will have other uses for vinegar other than for cooking and a cheaper alternative for things that has to be done at home.

d. REFERENCES http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/batteries/batteries.html http://science.wonderhowto.com/how-to/construct-vinegar-battery-and-power- calculator-259782/ http://www.scienceworld.ca/resources/activities/vinegar-batteries

E. CURRICULUM VITAE

NAME: SIA, RODNEY ACE SJ.
AGE: 14
ADDRESS: 246 Villaruel Street, Pasay City
RELIGION: Roman Catholic
GENDER: Male
CONTACT NUMBER: 09156490037
EMAIL ADDRESS: rodneyace143@gmail.com
SCHOOL GRADUATED FROM: St. Mary’s Academy, Pasay City

NAME: OCAMPO, HELISHA A.
AGE: 14
ADDRESS: 3919-F Macabulos Street, Bangkal, Makati City
RELIGION: Catholic
GENDER: Female
CONTACT NUMBER: 09364162063
EMAIL ADDRESS: helisha.ocampo@gmail.com
SCHOOL GRADUATED FROM: Heneral Pio del Pilar Elementary School

NAME: WESTERMANN, FRANCHEZKA D.
AGE: 14
ADDRESS: 5669 Ampere Street, Makati City
RELIGION: Jehovah’s Witness
GENDER: Female
CONTACT NUMBER: 9557857
EMAIL ADDRESS: franchezkawestermann@yahoo.com
SCHOOL GRADUATED FROM: Palanan Elementary School

NAME: JOCSON, JEROME M.
AGE: 15
ADDRESS: 3754-B Bautista Street, Makati City
GENDER: Male
CONTACT NUMBER: None
EMAIL ADDRESS: None
SCHOOL GRADUATED FROM: St. Anthony School