A brief tingle. As for taste, they don’t call it the copper-top battery for nothing.
I haven’t. I don’t think I will either.
A combination of shock and biting aluminum foil.
This is my experience exactly. I can’t explain it but just thinking about placing a charged 9-volt battery on my tongue is causing uncontrollable salivation as I type this…actually as soon as I began to read this thread, and I haven’t placed one on my tongue in a very long time.
When I was younger, licking a 9-volt battery was “the way” to see if it was still good. Everyone I knew did it for the same reason. For me, it’s a borderline unpleasant / pleasant sensation.
My first gleaking experience was caused by licking a fully-charged 9-volt battery.
ETA: I just realized that those who have never done this may be thinking that the we are (or were) licking the battery itself. No, no. It’s the placing of the metal positive and negative leads simultaneously on one’s tongue that causes the sensation.
I’ve been electrocuted, slightly. I was in India once, put my hand on a wire that wasn’t quite connected - it had all been stripped - and received a jolt. It wasn’t pleasant. I don’t mind being in the minority and “everyone’s doing it” is not a reason to do it. I feel like everybody’s mom. “If everybody was jumping off a cliff, would you, too?” :smack:
Sorry, I think this is an experience I can live without.
Tip: don’t try it with a car battery.
Just last night as a matter of fact. I’m wrapping Christmas presents and always try to include the batteries needed. It had been sitting in the drawer for a while so I needed to test it. . .
It’s one of those pieces of knowledge that is so old I don’t know where Iearned it. You know, “Righty tighty, lefty loosey” and “Here’s how to test a 9 volt.”
:: shrug ::
anyone with a tongue long enough to touch both terminals should be doing other things with their tongue.
We’ve discussed this in GQ before. Apparently (according to people with letters after their names) it is safe to connect a car battery to your tongue.
Frankly, I want to try it sometime.
Never trust a man named Gregory Johnsonmtfvonawtopih. Never.
i just replaced a 9V in a remote thermometer sensor.
mmm… metallically.
But it really doesn’t tell you how MUCH of a charge is left, right? Just that there’s enough to tingle your tongue? it’s not like there’s an indicator to say 75%, 50%, 25%, like on my battery tester.
IME, it tells you
Very good
Mostly good
Mostly dead
Dead
Lick enough 9-volt batteries in your life and you can approximate how much of a charge is left. I can definitely differentiate between one with a full charge, a low charge, and obviously no charge.
Won’t hurt you; it’s only 12.6 V.
Nonetheless, 25mA through the heart will kill you, according to my undergrad Instrumentation class.
Right. But generally speaking, unless the skin is broken, that level of current won’t flow through you if you come in contact with 12 V.
I’d hate to cut my tongue on the positive battery terminal while the car and I were grounded.
Unlikely, but things are gong well for me now. 
Ancedote I heard on the web. Two kids are playing in the attic and find grandpa’s old radio. It doesn’t work, so one of them decided to test the battery with his tongue. Turns out it was a 90 volt “B” battery. When he woke up with his friend shaking him on the other side of the room he concluded the battery was fine.
Others have said it but I figured I’d join the chorus. You can get a pretty good idea of how much is left in the thing. If it’s fresh you get the full experience. If it’s dead you mostly just get the metallic taste without much else.