Watermelon Power!

Photograph by Evan Zhang, My Shot

Watermelons are delicious and great fuel for kids on a hot summer afternoon. But they also might make great fuel for cars!

Wayne Fish, a chemist with the Agricultural Research Service in Lane, Oklahoma, and his team were working on a project using watermelons when they realized that watermelon juice could be used to make ethanol, which can be used as fuel for cars. Only about four of every five watermelons grown are sold to people for food. The remaining fifth of the watermelons go to waste. That could be a lot of fuel!

Read more about this green (or is it red?) fuel on National Geographic News.

Put your own words into a photo of a woman eating watermelon on National Geographic Kids.

Comments

hockeybabe2009
September 17, 2009, 5:40 pm

That’s interesting.
I think it would be so cool if cars ran on watermelon juice instead of gas.
emerald11
September 17, 2009, 8:37 pm

The next time I get some watermelons, I’m going to
save the juice for fuel for the car if it works!*
pookiemonsta
September 18, 2009, 6:38 pm

If cars did run on watermelons, then the air would smell a lot better
cookiemonster1996
September 28, 2009, 11:10 am

yes, what pookiemonsta said! haha
mslinch
September 28, 2009, 5:20 pm

I wonder what other fruits could be used as fuel?
gfuhriman7
September 30, 2009, 11:47 am

I love watermelon!!! It’s the best fruit ever! To use watermelon for gas? Only the stuff to be wasted. I want to eat lots of it!!!
gfuhriman7
September 30, 2009, 11:48 am
2whitie
June 8, 2010, 8:57 pm

I think that they should figure out how to get cars to run on Squash.:p Two reasons: watermelon should not be wasted on cars because it waaaay to tasty not to eat. Two: squash needs to have a use, cause it does not qualify as food.