Machines · machine
Voltaic Pile
Power source · 1800
- Year
- 1800
- Kind
- Power source
- Materials
- Zinc, copper, cardboard, salt water.
- Efficiency
- Poor, and it polarised within minutes.
- Used In
- Davy used it to isolate sodium and potassium; every battery since is its descendant.
- Power Density
- Tiny.
- Cycle
- None
How It Works
Discs of zinc and copper separated by brine-soaked cloth, stacked. Zinc dissolves and gives up electrons; they flow through the wire to the copper, where hydrogen forms. The first steady electric current — before it, electricity meant a spark from a jar.
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Open on the Machines shelf — the interactive card, the filters, and everything alongside it.