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When Dr. Randy Weinstein, Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering, published research on using lemon cell batteries for 棉花糖直播鈥檚 Engineering Freshman Design Project in 2007, he could never have guessed he would inspire a group of German high-school students to engineering success four years later.

Using insights from Dr. Weinstein鈥檚 Journal of Chemical Education article entitled 鈥淎 Lemon Cell Battery for High-Power Applications,鈥� Dr. Beate Brase, a teacher at Eric Keastner High School in Hannover, Germany, and her team took first place in the 鈥淣ew Materials鈥� category for their lemon-powered Lego^庐 car at a science competition. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, presented the award to the team in February as part of her proclamation of Germany鈥檚 participation in the 2011 International Year of Chemistry.

Just over a year ago, Dr. Brase contacted Dr. Weinstein for some 鈥渆mergency roadside assistance鈥� based on his article, which demonstrated how lemon juice battery cells, made from UV-vis cuvets that use a magnesium anode and copper cathode, can be used to power anything with an electric dc motor. Dr. Brase鈥檚 team had applied Dr. Weinstein鈥檚 work to power a Lego car with the intention of using it to move an egg 20 meters. Unfortunately, they hit a bump in the road with the car鈥檚 performance as the contest deadline approached.

鈥淲hen I initially received the email, it was pretty cool to see someone in Germany using a lemon juice-powered Lego car to perform a series of tasks in an educational setting. Not only that, but they truly understood and appreciated the teaching and learning components of the project,鈥� says Dr. Weinstein, who offered them two ideas to improve performance 鈥� adding more battery cells in parallel or gearing the car to generate more torque. 鈥淪imilar to conducting research, I want to teach my students that in life there are multiple choices and tradeoffs to make a decision. I think Dr. Brase and I both have taught our students this lesson.鈥�

The advice paid off, and Dr. Brase鈥檚 team 鈥渢ook the checkered flag,鈥� which symbolizes Dr. Weinstein鈥檚 contention that 鈥渞esearch has no distance.鈥� On the heels of her team鈥檚 big win, Dr. Brase was invited to lecture at a premier science teacher congress in Bremerhaven, Germany, held in November, where she publicly thanked Dr. Weinstein for his assistance via SKYPE.