In the eighteenth century, Italian scientist Luigi Galvani connected severed frog legs to metals and made the legs dance. This led him to conclude that living things possessed an “animal electricity,” an idea he explored through other scientific experiments. But fellow Italian Alessandro Volta was doubtful, and his attempts to prove his alternative theory of electricity led him to invent the first electric battery: the “voltaic pile.”
Volta believed that the metals in Galvani’s experiments, not the frogs, created an electric flow, but his path to the battery still involved electric animals. Historian Giuliano Pancaldi studied Volta’s papers and came to the conclusion that an electric fish gave Volta the insight he needed to create the voltaic pile.
Both Galvani and Volta thought of electricity as a fluid, but Volta believed that the flow of electricity came from imbalances between metallic substances. Pancaldi writes that Volta “conceived of the electricity observed in Galvanic experiments as a continuous current, kept in motion as long as the circle formed by the different conductors was uninterrupted.” The dance of the frog’s legs simply revealed this electric current, in Volta’s view.
He set out to prove this idea with various experiments. He started by measuring the ability for different metals to “push” electric fluid. At the top of his list was zinc, while charcoal was at the bottom. He tested his ideas by placing metals against his own tongue, and then began using a “doubler,” an instrument that could detect “weak electricity.” By 1796, Pancaldi explains, Volta had managed to make electricity from metals “instrument-detectable” using the doubler—without the need for frog legs or human tongues.
But in 1797, Galvani reasserted his claims using the example of the torpedo, a fish capable of delivering an electric shock. Volta needed more proof, and it was around this time that he read a paper by English chemist William Nicholson describing the torpedo’s electrical organ. It was composed of hundreds of thin columns, and Nicholson speculated about creating a machine to imitate it.
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Using his insights into metallic conductors, Volta took the next step. He stacked metal discs in alternating layers, hoping to create an electric current. After trying various arrangements, Pancaldi explains, Volta created “a pile of metallic pairs and wet cardboards.” It produced a current, and in 1800, Volta described his invention to Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society.
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Historian Joost Mertens argues that the voltaic pile was primarily important as a demonstration for others, since Volta was already convinced of his own theory from previous experiments. He describes how “Volta connected his pile to his tongue and eyes,” creating sensations of light and taste. Volta’s descriptions, Mertens writes, allowed people to understand the device and even construct their own.
Volta gave demonstrations to scientific institutes across Europe with esteemed attendees, including Napoleon Bonaparte, and entertained audiences in theaters with electric devices. Mertens describes how Volta even suggested dressing up the pile like an electric eel “to enhance its appeal as a demonstration device.”
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