After discussing the Electric Fruit Investigation of the 1996-1997 class, we decided to test a large and small sample of four different fruits and vegetables for a three week period.

	Small Potato	Large Potato	Small Apple	Large Apple	Small Jicama	Large Jicama
Circumference Day 1	28 cm	36.5 cm	23 cm	27 cm	26 cm	36 cm
Mass Day 1	207 g	414 g	148 g	223 g	177 g	542 g
Volts Day 1	.210	.015	.171	.032	.087	.123
Circumference Day 7	29 cm	36.5 cm	22.5 cm	26.5 cm	26 cm	34 cm
Mass Day 7	219 g	404 g	145 g	220 g	157 g	451 g
Volts Day 7	.112	.090	.081	.009	.171	.001
Circumference Day 11	29 cm	37 cm	22.5 cm	26.5 cm	25 cm	32 cm
Mass Day 11	210 g	392 g	137 g	208 g	146 g	360 g
Volts Day 11	.073	.121	.085	.007	.012	.065
Circumference Day 21	29 cm	38 cm	22 cm	26.5 cm	24.5 cm	26.5 cm
Mass Day 21	205 g	380 g	124 g	191 g	131 g	200 g
Volts Day 21	.057	.048	.157	.043	.032	.108

Tentative Conclusions

Circumference: The 1996-1997 class found that items with larger circumference produced more electricity, but this year we found that the smaller items (especially the potato and the apple) produced more electricity than larger items of the same variety.

Mass: Unlike the 1996-1997 class, we found that the heavier items usually produced less volts than the lighter ones.

Type: The potatos usually produced the most electricity and the jicamas usually produced the least.

Comments: Our large potato started to grow. Our large jicama was almost completely moldy by the end of our observation.

Suggestions for the 1998-1999 Class:

1. Try two of each item of about the same size to see if individual items are different.
2. Test more often. (Our observation stretched over Spring Break so we couldn't observe for 10 days.)
3. Try different varieties of the same fruit, like different kinds of apples.
4. Try drying one of each item to see if it is the amount of water that influences how much electricity is produced.
5. On the last day, cut the items in half and see if the middle produces more electricity than the outside.

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