A copper-zinc Voltaic pile

A Voltaic pile on display in the Tempio Voltiano

The Voltaic pile is the first modern electric battery, invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800. Volta demonstrated that when metals and chemicals come into contact with each other they produced an electrical current. In his research, Volta placed together several pairs of alternating copper (or silver) and zinc discs separated by cloth or cardboard and soaked the cloth or cardboard in brine (salt water) to increase conductivity, and an electrical current was produced. On March 20, 1800, Volta wrote to the London Royal Society to describe the technique for producing electrical current using his pile. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1467x1165, 19 KB) Summary A copper-zinc voltaic pile. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1467x1165, 19 KB) Summary A copper-zinc voltaic pile. ... General Name, Symbol, Number copper, Cu, 29 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 4, d Appearance metallic pinkish red Standard atomic weight 63. ... General Name, Symbol, Number zinc, Zn, 30 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 12, 4, d Appearance bluish pale gray Standard atomic weight 65. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 518 KB) Summary Picture of a volta pile Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 518 KB) Summary Picture of a volta pile Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (February 18, 1745 - March 5, 1827) was an Italian physicist known especially for the development of the electric battery in 1800. ... A Pair of AA Energizer Alkaline Cells Symbols representing a single Cell (top) and Battery (bottom), used in circuit diagrams. ... Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (February 18, 1745 - March 5, 1827) was an Italian physicist known especially for the development of the electric battery in 1800. ... // ON MAY 5 1853 MR.FADER HAD SEX WITH A MAN NAME MR WIEN THEN THEY HAD SON NAMEDMRS COTURE AND MR MANOOGIAN WENT INTO MRS HASKELLS OFFICE NAKED AND DANCED AROUND AND MASTERBATED ON HER CHEST AND SHE LICKED IT OFF THEN THEY HAD ORAL SEEX WITH NAPLOEAN OF... Hot metal work from a blacksmith In chemistry, a metal (Greek: Metallon) is an element that readily loses electrons to form positive ions (cations) and has metallic bonds between metal atoms. ... A chemical substance is any material substance used in or obtained by a process in chemistry: A chemical compound is a substance consisting of two or more chemical elements that are chemically combined in fixed proportions. ... The article on electrical energy is located elsewhere. ... General Name, Symbol, Number copper, Cu, 29 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 4, d Appearance metallic pinkish red Standard atomic weight 63. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silver, Ag, 47 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 5, d Appearance lustrous white metal Standard atomic weight 107. ... General Name, Symbol, Number zinc, Zn, 30 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 12, 4, d Appearance bluish pale gray Standard atomic weight 65. ... Brine is water saturated or nearly saturated with salt. ... In electricity, current refers to electric current, which is the flow of electric charge. ... March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in leap years). ... // ON MAY 5 1853 MR.FADER HAD SEX WITH A MAN NAME MR WIEN THEN THEY HAD SON NAMEDMRS COTURE AND MR MANOOGIAN WENT INTO MRS HASKELLS OFFICE NAKED AND DANCED AROUND AND MASTERBATED ON HER CHEST AND SHE LICKED IT OFF THEN THEY HAD ORAL SEEX WITH NAPLOEAN OF...

William Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle discovered electrolysis of water using the Voltaic pile. Humphry Davy showed that electricity from Voltaic piles was caused by a chemical reaction (not by differentials between metals as previously believed). William Hyde Wollaston showed that electricity from Voltaic piles was identical to electricity produced by friction. Davy also used the Voltaic pile to decompose and discover materials. William Nicholson, (1753-1815), English writer on natural philosophy. ... Sir Anthony Carlisle FRCS, FRS (15 February 1768 - 2 November 1842) was a English surgeon. ... This article is about the chemical process. ... Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, FRS (17 December 1778 – 29 May 1829) was a British chemist and physicist. ... William Hyde Wollaston William Hyde Wollaston FRS (August 6, 1766 – December 22, 1828) was an English chemist and physicist who is famous for discovering two chemical elements and for developing a way to process platinum ore. ... Friction is the force that opposes the relative motion or tendency toward such motion of two surfaces in contact. ...

Contact tension was an early theory that attempted to explain the action of the voltaic pile; it is now an obsolete scientific theory and has been replaced by the current theories of electrochemistry. A number of high-voltage dry piles were invented between the early 1800s and the 1830s in an attempt to determine the source of electricity of the wet voltaic pile, and specifically to support Volta’s hypothesis of contact tension. Indeed Volta himself experimented with a pile whose cardboard discs had dried out, probably accidentally. The first to publish was Johann Wilhelm Ritter in 1802, (albeit in an obscure journal) however over the next decade it was announced again and again as a new discovery. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Contact electrification. ... An obsolete scientific theory is a scientific theory that was once commonly accepted but (for whatever reason) is no longer considered the most complete description of reality by mainstream science; or a falsifiable theory which has been shown to be false. ... English chemists John Daniell (left) and Michael Faraday (right), both credited to be founders of electrochemistry as known today. ... The Dry-Pile (also known as the Duluc pile or Zamboni pile) is a high voltage low current semi-permanent electric battery developed in the early 1800s and constructed from silver foil, zinc foil, and paper. ... Lightning strikes during a night-time thunderstorm. ... Johann Wilhelm Ritter (1776 - 1810) was a German chemist and physicist. ...

See also

• History of the battery
• Trough battery
• Volt
• Luigi Galvani
• Battery (electricity)
• Galvanic cell
• Electrochemical cell
• Alessandro Volta
• Daniell cell

Voltas own illustrations of his Crown of Cups and Voltaic Pile, the first batteries. ... A trough battery. ... Josephson junction array chip developed by NIST as a standard volt. ... Luigi Galvani - Italian physician famous for making frogs legs twitch. ... A Pair of AA Energizer Alkaline Cells Symbols representing a single Cell (top) and Battery (bottom), used in circuit diagrams. ... The Galvanic cell, named after Luigi Galvani, consists of two different metals connected by a salt bridge or a porous disk between the individual half-cells. ... A demonstration electrochemical cell setup resembling the Daniell cell. ... Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (February 18, 1745 - March 5, 1827) was an Italian physicist known especially for the development of the electric battery in 1800. ... Early 20th-century engraving of a gravity cell. ...

External links

Electronics Portal

• "The invention of the Battery". Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship.
• "The Voltaic Pile". Electricity. Kenyon.edu.
• "A Voltaic Pile (c. 1800)". Professor Taylor's Ohm Page Featuring Grade Sheets & Less Important Matters.
• Lewis, Nancy D., "Alesandro Volta The Voltaic Pile".
• Lewis, Nancy D., "Humphry Davy Electrochemistry".
• "Battery Chemistry: Voltaic Pile. How Batteries Work. HowStuffWorks, Inc. 2004.
• "The voltaic pile". SCICON 2002.