History textbooks may not be true: humanity may have begun to study electricity much earlier than is generally believed. The existence of the thousand-year-old Baghdad Battery suggests that Volta did not invent the electric battery. Today it is generally accepted that it was the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta who invented the electric battery in 1800. He discovered that when two dissimilar metal probes are placed in a chemical solution, electrons flow between them. This began the work of other scientists on electricity, and this gave a huge impetus to the development of science. But the Baghdad Battery pushes the date back several thousand years.

Components of the Baghdad Battery

People tried to study electricity long before Voltas, about which records were preserved in papyri and wall paintings of Ancient Egypt. However, this is indirect evidence, and few people believed it until in 1938 the German archaeologist Wilhelm Koenig described the so-called Baghdad Jar (also called the Baghdad Battery). This clay vessel with electricity was found in 1936 in the Kujut Rabu area outside Baghdad, when workers were leveling the ground for the railway.

Koenig's merit was that he saw in an oval jug made of bright yellow clay 13 cm high a typical design of batteries, which by that time were widely used. The vessel had everything needed to store energy: a rolled sheet of copper around the perimeter, an iron rod in the center and several pieces of bitumen inside. The latter sealed the upper and lower edges of the copper cylinder. This tight connection suggests that the jug once contained liquid. This hypothesis is confirmed by traces of corrosion on copper. This also gives clues about the type of liquid - vinegar or wine. These natural substances contain acid - a necessary condition for any battery.

Baghdad battery in section

Why batteries if there are no electrical appliances?

Soon, artifacts similar to the Baghdad jar were found near the cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon. This gave precise knowledge that already several thousand years ago people used electricity. However, why did they need electricity, because they did not have light bulbs, televisions, refrigerators and other electrical appliances?

The exact answer to this question is still unknown, but scientists have some guesses on this matter. For example, Koenig in his articles believed that these power sources were used for galvanizing jewelry. This technological process is used everywhere today: copper plating of wires, gilding of copper and silver jewelry, chrome on steel parts, and the like. Its peculiarity is that under the influence of electric current it is possible to apply a thin and durable coating of one material to another.

This version has the right to life, because it has been tested in practice. Willard Gray, an engineer at the main high-voltage electricity laboratory in the American city of Pittsfield, created an exact copy of an ancient battery based on drawings from Koenig’s article. He filled a clay jug alternately with grape juice and vinegar and obtained a voltage at the metal terminals of about 1.5 V. This is exactly what any standard AA battery gives today.

Design of the Baghdad Bank

Batteries for magic and healing

In addition to the hypothesis about the ancients using batteries for galvanization, there are two more: electrotherapy and magic.

The ancients believed that if an electric current was applied to a sore spot, then it would become numb and stop hurting. There are records of this in the works of ancient Greek and Roman physicians. The Greeks, for example, often used an electric eel for these purposes, which they applied to the inflamed limb and held until the inflamed limb became numb.

Size of the Baghdad Battery compared to a hand

Electricity could also be used to strengthen the religious sphere of citizens’ lives. The priests, for example, collected several Baghdad jars into one powerful battery and attached the leads to a metal statue of the god. Everyone who touched her thought they had received contact with a higher being. Although in fact it was just a weak discharge of current.

The priest further strengthened his faith in his connection with the deity by the fact that he could calmly touch the statue and not receive shocks of electricity. To do this, he wore sandals, which he used to stand on the metal floor under the statue. The shoes served as an insulator and did not allow current to pass through. And ordinary believers most often walked barefoot, which is why this trick worked flawlessly.

Not a battery, but a storage chamber

Theories that the ancients could purposefully use energy in chemical sources do not allow us to say with certainty that this actually happened. The reason for this is the very low power and high weight of such batteries, which makes them useless in practice. For example, an apple can make a regular calculator or a simple wristwatch work. But modern power supplies are much more convenient.

In addition, the fact that the Baghdad bank was actually a battery is refuted by other finds. For example, a find in the same Seleucia contained a papyrus scroll. And the artifact from Ctesiphon had twisted sheets of bronze inside. Therefore, according to some scientists, such vessels were used to store things, and not to generate electricity.

Their version is confirmed by the fact that the bitumen cover was completely sealed and had no terminals for metal contacts for wires. It also did not have holes for filling electrolyte, but such a power source requires frequent replacement.

According to scientists, sacred scrolls made of materials of organic origin - parchment or papyrus - were stored in such vessels. When they decompose, organic acids are released, which explains the presence of traces of corrosion on the copper cylinder inside the clay vessel.

By the way, if the problem of the ancients was to create a source of electricity, today the main task is their disposal with minimal harm to the environment. And MTS helps Ukrainian users with this. The operator has launched a national program with which they will be able to dispose of batteries correctly. You can learn about where to dispose of used batteries.

The battery's prehistory begins in the distant 17th century, and its grandfather was an Italian doctor, anatomist, physiologist and physicist - Luigi Galvani. This worthy man is one of the founders of the doctrine of electricity and an undoubted pioneer in the study of electrophysiology.

Galvani discovered the so-called “animal electricity” during one of his experiments. He attached two metal strips to the muscles of a frog's leg and discovered that when the muscle contracted, an electrical discharge was generated. However, Galvani’s attempt to explain this phenomenon was not entirely successful: the theoretical basis he provided turned out to be incorrect, but this became clear much later. The experimental results obtained by Galvani, a century and a half later, interested his compatriot and colleague. It was Alessandro Volta.

Even in his youth, having become interested in the study of electrical phenomena and having become acquainted with the works of B. Franklin, Volta installed the first lightning rod in the city of Como. In addition, he sent the Parisian academician J.A. Nollet wrote his essay in which he discussed various electrical phenomena. As a result, Volta became interested in Galvani's work.

Having carefully studied the results of experiments with a frog, Alessandro Volta noted one detail that Galvani himself did not pay attention to: if wires made of dissimilar metals were connected to the frog, muscle contractions became stronger.

Not satisfied with the explanations proposed by his predecessor, Volta made an extremely bold and unexpected assumption: he decided that two metals, separated by a body in which there is a lot of water that conducts electricity well (a frog, without a doubt, can be classified as such a body), give birth to their own electric force. In order not to be unfounded, the physicist conducted a series of additional experiments that confirmed his assumption.

In 1800, on March 20, Alessandro Volta wrote to the President of the Royal Society of London, Sir Joseph Banks, about his invention - a new source of electricity, called the Voltaic Column. The inventor himself did not fully understand the entire operating mechanism of his brainchild and even seriously believed that he had created a completely working model of a perpetual motion machine.

By the way, Alessandro Volta showed the entire scientific community a wonderful example of research modesty: he proposed calling his invention a “galvanic cell”, in honor of Luigi Galvani, whose experiments gave him the idea.

Anatomy of a battery

What did the first “batteries” look like? Actually, A. Volta described the device of his invention in very, very detail in his letter to Sir Joseph Banks. His first experiment looked like this: Volta dipped copper and zinc plates into a jar of acid, and then connected them with wire. After this, the zinc plate began to dissolve, and gas bubbles appeared on the copper steel. "Volta Pillar"- this, one might say, is a stack of interconnected plates of zinc, copper and cloth, soaked in acid and stacked on top of each other in a certain order.

In modern “pen-type” and other batteries, the “filling” is somewhat more complicated. The battery body contains chemical reagents, the interaction of which releases energy, as well as two electrodes - the anode and the cathode. These reagents are separated by a special gasket, which does not allow the solid parts of the reagents to mix, but at the same time allows liquid electrolyte to pass through to them.

The liquid electrolyte reacts with the solid reactant, resulting in a charge. At the anode reactant it is negative, and at the cathode reactant it is positive. To prevent charge neutralization, the solid parts of the reagent are separated by a membrane.

To be able to “remove” the resulting charge and transfer it to the contacts, a current collector is inserted into the anode reagent, which looks very simple - a thin, not very long pin. The battery also has a cathode current collector, which is located under the battery shell. The shell itself is called the outer sleeve.

Both current collectors are in contact with the anode and cathode inside the battery. The resulting operation scheme of the battery is as follows: a chemical reaction, separation of charges on the reagents, transfer of charges to the current collectors, then to the electrodes and to the powered device.

What types of batteries are there?

There are three classifications of batteries. The first is based on the standard size of the galvanic cell. In everyday life, we most often use “finger” or “pinky” batteries, but in addition to this, there are also medium and large cylindrical batteries, as well as two types of batteries, the shape of which is a parallelepiped: “crown” and simply square. This is a list of the most common varieties of form.

Autonomous power supplies also differ in the type of electrolyte. The cheapest batteries, as a rule, are “salt” - carbon-zinc, this electrolyte is dry. Another option for dry electrolyte is zinc chloride. Such batteries are also quite cheap and widely available.

The next electrolyte option is alkaline. These batteries say Alkaline, and inside there is an alkali-manganese, manganese-zinc electrolyte. Their main disadvantage is their high mercury content.

Batteries with mercury electrolyte are practically not produced today. Silver electrolyte shows good performance properties, but the production of such batteries costs a lot of money.

Zinc air electrolyte is the safest for humans and the environment. They are inexpensive and last a long time. But the thickness of the battery is 1.5 times that of a regular alkaline/silver one. In addition, to prevent self-discharge during storage, the battery must be sealed. Lithium batteries are quite expensive, but their performance characteristics significantly exceed those of other batteries.

Another way to divide batteries into groups is to determine the type of chemical reaction that occurs in them. The primary reaction occurs in galvanic cells - in the most ordinary batteries. They cannot be recharged, unlike rechargeable batteries, in which a secondary chemical reaction occurs.

Rules for use and disposal

It is not advisable to use batteries at extreme temperatures - very cold or hot. This can lead to very unpleasant consequences. If you had to use batteries in the cold, for example, outside in winter, it is recommended to keep them at room temperature for at least half an hour.

It happens that batteries, especially alkaline ones, leak. This happens when the seal of the battery case is broken. Under no circumstances should these batteries be used - this may cause damage to electrical appliances.

As for the disposal of used batteries or accumulators, this should be handled by special organizations or enterprises. In large cities you can find specially organized collection points where you can hand over used batteries for their further recycling. True, not every city has such a reception point. The question of what to do in this case remains open.

• A. Volta. "On electricity excited by the simple contact of various conducting substances."
• Radovsky M.I. "Galvani and Volta".
• Spassky B.I. "History of Physics".
• Free electronic encyclopedia Wikipedia, section "Chemical current source".
• Free electronic encyclopedia Wikipedia, section "Standard sizes of galvanic cells".

Take a look around. Almost all small-sized electrical devices that surround us in everyday life have a portable power supply in their circuitry - simply put, a battery. Be it a mobile phone, TV remote control, wall or table clock, calculator, etc.

All these devices are inoperative without a battery or accumulator. So let's take a look at the history of the discovery of this little miracle device. The first chemical element was invented at the end of the 18th century by the Italian scientist Luigi Galvani, completely by accident. The scientist conducted research on the reactions of animals to various types of exposure to them.

When he attached two strips of different metals to a frog's leg, he discovered the flow of current between them. Although Galvani did not give a correct explanation of this process, his experience served as the basis for the research of another Italian scientist Alessandro Volta. He revealed that the cause of the current is a chemical reaction between two different metals in a certain environment.

Volta placed two plates in a container with a saline solution: zinc and copper. This device became the world's first autonomous chemical element. Volta subsequently improved his design, creating the famous “ Voltaic pole”(Appendix. Photo).

In 859, the French scientist Gaston Plante created a battery that used lead plates immersed in a weak solution of sulfuric acid. This battery was charged with a direct current source, and then began to generate electricity itself, giving out almost all the electricity spent on charging. Moreover, this could be done many times. This is how the first battery appeared.

2. Questionnaire about batteries in our lives

In order to get an answer to all these questions, I conducted a survey:

I asked parents and high school students to answer the questions in my questionnaire. 32 people were interviewed

Question 1: What guides you when buying batteries?

(Appendix Table 1)

Most respondents pay attention to the manufacturer when purchasing batteries.

Question 2: What devices do you use batteries for?

(Appendix Table 2)

Most people use batteries in remote controls and clocks.

Electric batteries are a very useful thing. If they weren’t there, then the toys would have to be plugged into the outlet and get tangled in the wires; besides, the electric current from the network is not suitable for toys; a special box would also be needed to correct it.

Batteries do not have the same power as the electricity that comes into our homes, but they can be transported from place to place, and can also be used as an emergency source of energy when the network is cut off.

Question 3: What do you do with used batteries?

(Appendix Table 3)

Most people throw away batteries, some use chargers.

Question 4: How can I extend the battery life?

(Appendix Table 4)

Almost half of those surveyed do not know how to extend battery life.

Conclusions from the survey:

1. Electric batteries are a very useful thing. They give toys and other useful things independence and autonomy.

2. Every home has devices that require batteries.

3. Most respondents focus on price and brand when purchasing batteries.

4. Most people don’t know how to extend the battery life and therefore immediately throw them away.

Today in our “school of fixers” there is a conversation about batteries.

What would we do without these “magic wands” that allow us to use electricity where there are no sockets or wires! We take a flashlight with us into the forest, listen to music on the beach, when traveling we always have a camera at hand, and the kids take moving toys outside... And batteries work everywhere!

But where does the electric current come from in these small tubes that makes all the devices work? Let's try to figure it out.

First, we will once again listen to a quickie about batteries and watch a video made by animation director Alexey Budovsky. And then we’ll talk about how batteries work and the history of their invention.

A regular, “disposable” battery has another name - "galvanic cell". An electric current appears in it due to the chemical interaction of substances.

This method of generating electricity was first invented by the famous Italian physicist Alessandro Volta. It was in his honor that the unit of measurement of electrical voltage was named - 1 volt.

And the name “galvanic cell” is given in honor of the Italian physiologist Luigi Galvani from Bologna. Back in 1791, he made an important observation - but failed to interpret it correctly. Galvani noticed that the body of a dead frog shudders under the influence of electricity - if you put it near an electric machine, when sparks fly out of it. Or if it just touches two metal objects. But Galvani thought that this electricity was in the body of the frog itself. And he called this phenomenon “animal electricity.” Volta repeated Galvani's experiments, but with greater accuracy. He noticed that if a dead frog touched objects made of one metal - for example, iron - no effect was observed. For the experiment to be successful, two different metals were always required. And Volta concluded that the appearance of electricity is explained by the interaction of two different metals, between which a chemical reaction is formed (with the help of a conductor, which was the frog’s body in Galvani’s experiments).

After many experiments with different metals, Volta constructed a pillar from plates of zinc, copper and felt moistened with a solution of sulfuric acid. He placed zinc, copper and felt on top of each other in this order: at the bottom there was a copper plate, felt on it, then zinc, again copper, felt, zinc, copper, felt, etc.

And as a result, the column turned out to be charged with positive electricity at the lower end, and negative electricity at the upper end.

Now take a regular battery and look: you will see that there is a plus on one end and a minus on the other. This is almost the same “Volta Pillar”. In just two hundred years it has become much smaller. The first one, made by Alessandro Volta, was half a meter high. Imagine such a huge battery!

This invention became a sensation - they said about it that “this is a projectile more wonderful than which man has never invented, not even excluding the telescope and the steam engine.” After all, it was the first chemical current source in history suitable for practical use.

For the most curious

Modern batteries, of course, are designed a little differently - they no longer contain metal disks or felt plates soaked in an acid solution. But the principle is the same - the battery contains chemical reagents, which contain two different metals. A battery has two electrodes - positive (anode) and negative (cathode). Between them is a liquid electrolyte: a solution that conducts electric current well and participates in a chemical reaction. When metals begin to interact through this solution, charged particles move from the anode to the cathode - and electrical energy is generated.

For experimenters

Making our own “Volta Pillar”

You can try it - only with adults! - make your own little version of a “Volta Pillar” at home.

You will need:

1) Coins, always copper (Russian 50 and 10 kopecks, clean!)
2) Vinegar, or citric acid solution, or very salty water (electrolyte)
3) Aluminum foil
4) Paper
5) A device that measures electrical voltage - a multimeter.

We take a piece of paper and cut it into squares so that they can cover the coin. Soak the paper squares in electrolyte. Next, we begin to build the battery. We add the components according to the scheme: coin - piece of paper - piece of foil - coin - piece of paper - piece of foil - ... etc.

We repeat the operation until we run out of patience/foil/coins/electrolyte. When something runs out, take a multimeter and measure the voltage.