Electricity with citrus circuits
Brian Saccardi demonstrated charge separation as a form of generating electricity at the Cornwall Library on Saturday, Jan. 7. 
Photo by Riley Klein

Electricity with citrus circuits

CORNWALL — The Cornwall Library was buzzing as two area experts led a discussion and demonstration on electricity on Saturday, Jan. 7.

Local electrician Steve Saccardi teamed up with his son and UMass Amherst PhD student Brian Saccardi to provide insight on the fundamentals of electricity.

The duo addressed the science behind electro-magnetism as a force and reviewed the different ways electricity can be generated and harnessed.

“The electro-magnetic field is concentrated along the outside of the wires that run to things like lights,” said Steve Saccardi. “The reason those fields exist is because inside the wire there is an electron moving.”

After an in-depth discussion on how and why electricity works, the Saccardis provided visual demonstrations on two different methods for generating electricity.

First, a circuit consisting of four lemons and four oranges, each rigged with copper wire and zinc nails, was used to power a small light bulb.

“If you have two dissimilar metals, one has a stronger affinity for electrons than the other,” said Brian Saccardi as he explained the chemistry behind the experiment. “When put in a substance that allows electrons to easily move, the metals will trade electrons.”

He explained this process is fundamentally the same as the science that occurs in everyday batteries, with the citrus acting as battery acid in this experiment.

After using lemons to light a bulb, the Saccardis demonstrated a Van de Graaf machine, which uses charge separation to generate voltage. In a Van de Graaf machine, high voltage direct current is generated at low levels through the movement of a belt inside an insulated column.

The discussion was presented as part of the Cornwall Conversations program at the library.

Related Articles Around the Web

Latest News

Angela Derrico Carabine

SHARON — Angela Derrick Carabine, 74, died May 16, 2025, at Vassar Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York. She was the wife of Michael Carabine and mother of Caitlin Carabine McLean.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated on June 6 at 11:00 a.m. at Saint Katri (St Bernards Church) Church. Burial will follow at St. Bernards Cemetery. A complete obituary can be found on the website of the Kenny Funeral home kennyfuneralhomes.com.

Revisiting ‘The Killing Fields’ with Sam Waterston

Sam Waterston

Jennifer Almquist

On June 7 at 3 p.m., the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington will host a benefit screening of “The Killing Fields,” Roland Joffé’s 1984 drama about the Khmer Rouge and the two journalists, Cambodian Dith Pran and New York Times correspondent Sydney Schanberg, whose story carried the weight of a nation’s tragedy.

The film, which earned three Academy Awards and seven nominations — including one for Best Actor for Sam Waterston — will be followed by a rare conversation between Waterston and his longtime collaborator and acclaimed television and theater director Matthew Penn.

Keep ReadingShow less
The art of place: maps by Scott Reinhard

Scott Reinhard, graphic designer, cartographer, former Graphics Editor at the New York Times, took time out from setting up his show “Here, Here, Here, Here- Maps as Art” to explain his process of working.Here he explains one of the “Heres”, the Hunt Library’s location on earth (the orange dot below his hand).

obin Roraback

Map lovers know that as well as providing the vital functions of location and guidance, maps can also be works of art.With an exhibition titled “Here, Here, Here, Here — Maps as Art,” Scott Reinhard, graphic designer and cartographer, shows this to be true. The exhibition opens on June 7 at the David M. Hunt Library at 63 Main St., Falls Village, and will be the first solo exhibition for Reinhard.

Reinhard explained how he came to be a mapmaker. “Mapping as a part of my career was somewhat unexpected.I took an introduction to geographic information systems (GIS), the technological side of mapmaking, when I was in graduate school for graphic design at North Carolina State.GIS opened up a whole new world, new tools, and data as a medium to play with.”

Keep ReadingShow less