The voltaic pile, invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800, was the first true electric battery capable of a continuous output of electric current. It consisted of alternating disks of zinc and another metal separated by disks of cardboard or leather soaked in brine. Volta developed it to demonstrate that an electric current was present and that creating a circuit using electrodes produced the current. The invention led to the birth of electrochemistry and the development of the modern electric battery.
A voltaic pile is the first type of true electric battery capable of a continuous output of electric current. It takes its name from its inventor, Alessandro Volta who built the first example in 1800, and was based on previous works by Luigi Galvani. Volta developed it, not to improve or validate Galvani’s work, but to demonstrate that while Galvani’s discoveries had value, he had misinterpreted their meaning. Volta tried to show the true source of his colleague’s achievements and the mechanism behind them. A voltaic pile consists of alternating disks of zinc and another metal such as copper or silver separated by disks of cardboard or leather soaked in brine. Each unit of a copper disk and a zinc disk with its brine-soaked separator will produce a weak electric current, and by stacking several such units in series, more current is produced.
Volta’s colleague, Luigi Galvani, demonstrated that a circuit of two electrodes and a frog’s leg could activate leg muscles. Galvani mistakenly believed that the fabric was the source of the action. Volta constructed the voltaic pile in part to show that an electric current was present and that creating a circuit using electrodes produced the current. Of course, this was not the only impetus behind his research and development of his own invention, as he was also looking for a method for producing constant electric current.
The stack of discs in the voltaic pile is held in place by glass rods, which are non-conductive. By connecting the wires connected to both ends of the pile, an electrical circuit is created with a current flowing. This is due to the flow of electrons from the zinc discs to the copper discs, facilitated by the liquid held by the cardboard or leather pads. The amount of current produced by a single cell of two metal disks and a brine-soaked separator is roughly equivalent to one volt and was used to define that unit of electromotive force called a Volta. Adding more cells to a voltaic pile increases the current output.
This important invention led directly to the first experiments and the birth of that branch of science now called electrochemistry. Two scientists used a voltaic pile to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen atoms by passing a current through it, a process that came to be known as electrolysis. Other scientists built on this work, expanding this new field and making improvements on Volta’s invention, eventually leading to the development of the modern electric battery.
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