Fascinating facts about the invention of the
Electric Battery by Alessandro Volta in 1800.

Luigi Galvani is famous for his experiments concerning "the electrical forces in muscular movements", leading up to his theory of animal electricity. This began with the accidental observation, in 1780, of the twitching of the legs of a dissected frog when the bared crural nerve was touched with the steel scalpel. He worked diligently along these lines, but waited for eleven years before he published the results and his ingenious and simple theory. This theory discovered that when nerve and muscle touch two dissimilar metals in contact with each other, a contraction of the muscle takes place. But he incorrectly thought fluid in the frog's body was the source of the electricity. The theory has been abandoned by scientists on account of later discoveries by Italian inventor Alessandro Volta. Volta proved that the source of the electricity was a reaction caused by the animal's body fluids being touched by two different types of metal.

Beginning his work in 1794, Volta observed the electrical interaction between two different metals submerged near each other in an acidic solution. Based on this principle, his first battery consisted of a series of alternating copper and zinc rings in an acid solution known as an electrolyte. His device for generating a consistent flow of electricity was invented in 1800. He called his invention a column battery, although it came to be commonly known as the Volta battery, Voltaic cell or Voltaic pile. Volta’s discovery of a means of converting chemical energy into electrical energy formed the basis for nearly all modern batteries. Volta researched the effects which different metals produced when exposed to salt water. In 1801, Volta demonstrated the Voltaic cell to Napoleon Bonaparte (who later ennobled him, Count, for his discoveries).

Since those early days, either 2000 years ago or 200 years ago, many improvements have been made to the battery. Even today chemist, scientists and inventors are working to find additional improvements and new applications for the electric battery.

TO LEARN MORE

RELATED INFORMATION:
Alessandro Volta Biography   from The Great Idea Finder
History of Electricity   from The Great Idea Finder

ON THE BOOKSHELF:
100 Inventions That Shaped World History
by Bill Yenne, Morton, Dr. Grosser (Editor) / Paperback - 112 pages / Bluewood Books (1983) 
This book contains inventions from all around the world from microchips to fire. This is a really good book if you are going to do research on inventions.
The Book of Inventions
by Ian Harrison / Hardcover: 288 pages / National Geographic (November 1, 2004)
This extremely lively-and intricately researched-book is a rousing romp through the history of inventions and their inventors through time, from the tiny paper clip-coined "the world's most valuable invention"-to the massive jet engine; from mastermind Leonardo daVinci, to quirky, colorful, dual-cyclone-vacuum-cleaner inventor James Dyson.
Collector's Guide to Battery Toys: Batteries Not Included  (This title is out of print.)
by Don Hultzman / Paperback - 144 pages / Collector Books; November, 1997
This 110 page softbound book features more than 300 full color, sharp, large photos. A good
introduction to the collectible is provided. There are over 1,600 entries in this book.
Gizmos & Gadgets: Creating Science Contraptions That Work (& Knowing Why)
by Jill Frankel Hauser, Michael Kline (Illustrator) / Paperback: 144 pages / Williamson Pub; (1999)
Gear up to discover science by constructing weird, wacky contraptions. With this guide, children
can start building, questioning, creating, and inventing--all the while learning fun physics principles
and good science practices.
Discovery Box: The Battery
by Gallimard Jeunesse / Hardcover - 32 pages / Scholastic Trade;March, 1998
With this compact book and activity kit in the Scholastic Discovery Box series, kids ages 6 and older can revel in the wonders of electricity--without being shocked. The accompanying richly illustrated, caption-packed, 32-page booklet is peppered with all sorts of fascinating facts about the history and workings of electricity, and more information about batteries than you can shine a flashlight at.

ON THE WEB:
Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta
His young childhood did not show the makings of a prodigy. It was not until the age of four that he talked, and his family was convinced that he was retarded.
(URL: www.italian-american.com/volta.htm)
History of Batteries
Everything you need to know about batteries from Energizer.
(URL: www.energizer.com/learning/historyofbatteries.asp)
The Human Battery
In 1836, John F. Daniell, an English chemist, introduced a more efficient primary cell. The Daniell cell had two liquid electrolytes and produced a steadier current than Volta's device.
(URL: www.spartechsoftware.com/reeko/Experiments/ExpHumanBattery.htm)
Gassner Dry Cell Battery
Dr. Gassner produced the first "dry" cell in 1888 with zinc as the container for the other elements as well as for the negative electrode. The electrolyte was absorbed in a porous material and the cell was sealed across the top. This cell was easy to handle and portable. It became the prototype for the dry battery industry. A U.S. patent was issued to Gassner in 1887 (No. 373,064).
(URL: chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~eugeniik/history/gassner.html)
Batteries
Once the processing chips got smaller, so did the devices. Smaller devices meant portability and portable products required power – specifically, battery power. From the Consumer Electronics Association Web site.
(URL: www.ce.org/Press/CEA_Pubs/942.asp)
Portable Power
Much twenty-first-century technology runs on nineteenth-century chemistry. Artical by Curt Wohleber for Invention & Technology magazine.
(URL: www.inventionandtechnology.com/xml/2002/4/it_2002_4_dept_objlessons.xml)
Volta's Electrical Battery Invention
The Voltaic pile stimulated so much scientific inquiry that, by 1831, when Faraday built the first dynamo, the basic principles of electricity had been established. From IEEE History Center.
(URL: www.ieee.org/organizations/history_center/milestones_photos/volta.html)
The Baghdad Battery
Believed to be the first battery, about 2000 years old from the Parthian period. The jar was found just outside Baghdad and is composed of a clay jar with a stopper made of asphalt. Sticking through the asphalt is an iron rod surrounded by a copper cylinder. When filled with vinegar - or any other electrolytic solution - the jar produces about 1.1 volts.
(URL: www.unmuseum.org/bbattery.htm)
Super Scientists
Volta modified this effect to produce the first continuous flow of electric current. Around 1800, he invented a wet battery called a Voltaic Pile.
(URL: www.energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/volta.html)
DURACELL Brand Battery
The story of Duracell begins in the early 1920's with an inventive scientist named Samuel Ruben and an eager manufacturer of tungsten filament wire named Philip Rogers Mallory.Duracell believes there is no limit to the potential of portable power — and as a company we will always strive to find innovative and efficient ways to power your life in the future.
(URL: www.duracell.com/company/history.asp?id=50&)
Timeline of Batteries
While it is obvious that transportable energy will always be needed, it may not always be batteries that provide it. Fuel cells may take over as the favorable form of energy. A student ThinkQuest project.
(URL: library.thinkquest.org/)
Sparks Museum
The invention of the battery page includes copies of Volta's notes, historical paintings and pages from his book.
(URL: www.sparkmuseum.com/BOOK_VOLTA.HTM)
Alessandro Volta
In 1800 he constructed the first battery to produce electricity.
(URL: scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Volta.html)
The Battery: Using Chemistry to Make Energy
A battery converts chemical energy into electric energy. It is a connected bunch (or “battery”) of electro-chemical devices. The Italian inventor Alessandro Volta invented the first battery in 1800.
(URL: www.ieee-virtual-museum.org/collection/tech.php?taid=&id=2345793&lid=1)
Batteries - what would we do without them?
Let's talk about the smaller, portable kind, the ones you throw away when they don't run your toy or light your flashlight anymore. There are dozens of them, different sizes, different chemistries usually for different purposes. Article by Brooke Schumm for Electrochemistry Encyclopedia.
(URL: electrochem.cwru.edu/ed/encycl/art-b02-batt-nonr.htm)

HOW IT WORKS:
How a Battery Works
A battery is essentially a can full of chemicals that produce electrons. Chemical reactions able to produce electrons are called Electro-chemical reactions. Complete explanation at Energizer.

DID YOU KNOW?

• The term volt, a unit for measuring electrical potential difference and electromotive force, is also derived from Alessandro Volta's name.
• The name Galvanism is given to the manifestations of current electricity. Named after Luigi Galvani.
• It would take about eight AA batteries to boil a cup of water.
• The term battery had been coined by Benjamin Franklin to refer to a collection of Leyden jars, which were essentially large capacitors. It was adopted by later scientists to describe a collection of voltaic cells.
• In dry cell lights, once a month you should remove the batteries. You then use a pencil eraser and scrub both terminals of each battery. If you can get to the contact points and bottom spring in the light, scrub them with the eraser, too. If your batteries show any sign of leakage, replace them.
• You should replace flashlight batteries every six months whether you have used the light or not.