Kathy Loves Physics & History | How Volta Invented the First Battery Because He Was Jealous of Galvani's Frog @Kathy_Loves_Physics | Uploaded 6 years ago | Updated 10 hours ago
How did Allesandro Volta invent the first battery? Learn a story of scientific rivalries, reanimating corpses, tingly metals and Napoleonic politics! I also show you how the frog moved, how to make your own battery out of pennies and vinegar that lights up an LED light bulb and how to make Hydrogen and Oxygen gas out of water! I will also tell you why we can't use pennies to charge our cell phones. This is a fascinating tale behind one of our most used devices in modern life: the battery. Check it out!
Experiments:
1. How to make a voltaic pile:
Take 10 shiny pennies, 10 zinc washers (or tin foil), and cut out 10 circles in paper or cardboard. Put the paper or cardboard in a cup full of vinegar. Layer the items zinc, paper, penny, zinc, paper, penny... You got a battery! Crazy eh?
2. How to make Hydrogen and Oxygen
Take a container of water and add a pinch of baking soda (you can add salt but it will make Chlorine and that is dangerous). Put leads from a 9 V battery into the water. That is it. If you put a tube with a balloon on top of the leads you can collect the gas but be careful, the gasses can be dangerous around a flame!
Thanks:
Big Shout out to Bertrand Wolff in France who is working with Christine Blondel on the History of Electricity. Their videos have a lot more detail on how to recreate the experiments (and how to dissect the frog). If you speak any French I recommend you check it out!
The frog videos were made at their request by Dr. Francois Ferriere at the University de Rennes 1 and can be seen at:
http://www.ampere.cnrs.fr/histoire/items/show/343
The videos of the voltage and maximum current from a voltaic pile as well as the gentleman getting shocked can be seen at:
http://www.ampere.cnrs.fr/parcourspedagogique/zoom/video/piledevolta/video/
Finally, as usual, a big thank you to the fabulous Kim Nalley for singing "electricity" and some background music.
How did Allesandro Volta invent the first battery? Learn a story of scientific rivalries, reanimating corpses, tingly metals and Napoleonic politics! I also show you how the frog moved, how to make your own battery out of pennies and vinegar that lights up an LED light bulb and how to make Hydrogen and Oxygen gas out of water! I will also tell you why we can't use pennies to charge our cell phones. This is a fascinating tale behind one of our most used devices in modern life: the battery. Check it out!
Experiments:
1. How to make a voltaic pile:
Take 10 shiny pennies, 10 zinc washers (or tin foil), and cut out 10 circles in paper or cardboard. Put the paper or cardboard in a cup full of vinegar. Layer the items zinc, paper, penny, zinc, paper, penny... You got a battery! Crazy eh?
2. How to make Hydrogen and Oxygen
Take a container of water and add a pinch of baking soda (you can add salt but it will make Chlorine and that is dangerous). Put leads from a 9 V battery into the water. That is it. If you put a tube with a balloon on top of the leads you can collect the gas but be careful, the gasses can be dangerous around a flame!
Thanks:
Big Shout out to Bertrand Wolff in France who is working with Christine Blondel on the History of Electricity. Their videos have a lot more detail on how to recreate the experiments (and how to dissect the frog). If you speak any French I recommend you check it out!
The frog videos were made at their request by Dr. Francois Ferriere at the University de Rennes 1 and can be seen at:
http://www.ampere.cnrs.fr/histoire/items/show/343
The videos of the voltage and maximum current from a voltaic pile as well as the gentleman getting shocked can be seen at:
http://www.ampere.cnrs.fr/parcourspedagogique/zoom/video/piledevolta/video/
Finally, as usual, a big thank you to the fabulous Kim Nalley for singing "electricity" and some background music.
