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    Excerpt From "Much Ado About Almost Nothing"

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    Muhammadimran Ali
    The document discusses the invention and development of the battery by Alessandro Volta in the late 1700s. It describes how Volta experimented with different combinations of metals and materials to produce electricity and eventually stacked metal and cardboard discs to create the first battery. It produced a steady current that remained until the battery was drained, unlike previous static electricity devices.

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    Excerpt From "Much Ado About Almost Nothing"

    Uploaded by

    Muhammadimran Ali
    45 views1 page
    The document discusses the invention and development of the battery by Alessandro Volta in the late 1700s. It describes how Volta experimented with different combinations of metals and materials to produce electricity and eventually stacked metal and cardboard discs to create the first battery. It produced a steady current that remained until the battery was drained, unlike previous static electricity devices.

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    Battery

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    The document discusses the invention and development of the battery by Alessandro Volta in the late 1700s. It describes how Volta experimented with different combinations of metals and materials to produce electricity and eventually stacked metal and cardboard discs to create the first battery. It produced a steady current that remained until the battery was drained, unlike previous static electricity devices.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    45 views1 page

    Excerpt From "Much Ado About Almost Nothing"

    Uploaded by

    Muhammadimran Ali
    The document discusses the invention and development of the battery by Alessandro Volta in the late 1700s. It describes how Volta experimented with different combinations of metals and materials to produce electricity and eventually stacked metal and cardboard discs to create the first battery. It produced a steady current that remained until the battery was drained, unlike previous static electricity devices.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Battery

    Excerpt from "Much Ado About Almost Nothing":

    ---------------------------------

    Despite the political upheaval, Volta made progress on his research. He had found that a moistened piece of cardboard between the two metals
    greatly enhanced their effectiveness. To the list of metals that produced electricity he added graphite and charcoal and he ranked all materials in
    effectiveness. The further apart on his list the materials were, the more electricity was produced. Yet even the best of these combinations of materials was
    not very useful. Their effect could be felt on the tongue, but it did not have the shocking power of a Leyden jar. So Volta stacked metal discs with
    moistened cardboard on top of each other, the first embodiment of the modern battery. With 30 to 40 of these combinations in series he could now feel the
    "tension" with his hands.
    There was one remaining problem with Volta's invention. The cardboard discs soon dried out and the electricity disappeared. To counter this he put
    plates of two different materials in glass cups and added salt water. If there was any tendency for the liquid to dry out, he could simply refill the cups.
    What had Volta invented? Before his battery appeared, electricity was produced by rotating a globe or disc and could be stored in a Leyden jar.
    After a spark was drawn, or the Leyden jar discharged with a wire or a finger, the electricity was gone. With Volta's battery the electricity remained; it
    could be used many times, yet the electric "tension," as Volta called it (and for which we now use the term voltage in his honor) would remain strong. This
    difference was so startling to Volta that he was convinced he had found perpetual motion. He was, of course, a little premature in his conclusion. As millions of users of transistor radios, flashlights and toys know,
    batteries do wear out.
    But Volta's battery had another and far more important feature: it produced a steady, continuous current. The term "current" was not known then in electricity and few people had any notion of what it was
    or grasped the idea that there was something else beside "tension". But the evidence of electric current was there. One needed only to connect a thin wire to the battery: it would heat up and stay heated as long
    as the battery had any charge in it.

    -----------------------

    For see chapter 3 of the book.

    Back to the Main Page


    Copyright 2007 Hans Camenzind

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