Early Batteries

Discussion in 'Gadgets & Tech Talk' started by Ken Anderson, Mar 20, 2018.

  1. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    You may have associated the first batteries with Alessandro Volta, the Italian inventor from whom the word “volt” is derived. In 1800, he invented what he may have thought to be the world’s first battery. Actually, it was an improvement on one invented by another Italian, by the name of Luigi Galvani, who devised a battery that involved attaching metal to a dead frog’s leg, thereby discovering the concept of bio-electricity in 1780.

    However, it seems that the battery was actually invented prior to that time; way before that time - around 200 BC. In 1938, a German archaeologist, Wilhelm König, discovered a clay jar that would become known as the Baghdad Battery. It consisted of a terracotta jar, about 5-inches tall, with a 1.5-inch mouth. It contained a cylinder made of a rolled copper sheet, which surrounded an iron rod. At the top, the rod was isolated from the copper by bitumen, with plugs or stoppers, and the rod and cylinder fit snugly into the jar. The copper cylinder was not water-tight, so if the jar were filled with a liquid, this would surround the iron rod as well. The artifact had been exposed to the weather and had suffered corrosion.

    There are skeptics as to the nature of the artifact, however. Having discovered a number of fine silver objects from ancient Iraq, which were plated with thin layers of gold, König theorized that the Baghdad Battery may have been used to electroplate gold onto silver objects, a theory that is rejected by others.

    Some believe that wine, lemon juice, grape juice, or vinegar was used as an acidic electrolyte solution to generate an electric current from the difference between the electrode potentials of the copper and the iron. A man named Willard Gray demonstrated current production through a reconstruction of the Baghdad Battery design, using grape juice, while others did much the same, only using benzoquinone (from a beetle) and vinegar in a cell, and got satisfactory performance.

    In 2005, the television program, MythBusters, recreated ten Baghdad Batteries, using lemon juice as an electrolyte, and were able to produce 4 volts of electricity, but that was through connecting ten of the batteries in a series. This was enough to electroplate a small token.

    The Biblical Ark of the Covenant is theorized to have included an ancient battery or another power source.
     
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    Last edited: Mar 20, 2018
  2. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Yes, I read about the battery a few years ago and it is indeed fascinating and in many ways confirmed my thoughts on the subject of intelligence as it relates to ancient man. My statement is that mankind has always had higher and lower degrees of IQ but lacked (and still do) sufficient subject matter to learn from in order to completely fulfill intellectual potential.

    Now, as to the Babylonian battery, whatever lead to the discovery of metal + acidity = electricity or even the idea of electrolysis / plating is anyone's guess. Since there had to be very little to learn from in order to show some kind of progression, even the design was a huge leap ahead.
    And, if just for a spark, to what other purpose then would it have been for? Perhaps several of them in order to produce a parlor trick from the alchemist for the king in order to show favor from Ninurta, the god of war or Marduk, the god of storms?
    And, perhaps the journey to change lead into gold is much older than previously thought?

    Again, it's anyone's guess but extremely interesting just the same. My goodness, static electricity and electromagnetism and the common balloon is still an ongoing study.
     
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  3. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    I suspect the battery has come a very long way, improving during recent decades as the need for longer life, smaller physical size, and greater capacity arose due to the "Information Revolution". "Shelf life" has also risen very dramatically. My "shooter" for my car's door locks has the ooriginal battery from 2004!

    I've theorized that share holdings in battery-producing companies would have been a great bet around the 1980s. Missed the boat, again!
    Frank
     
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