Alessandro Volta

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the concept car, see Toyota Alessandro Volta.

The template Infobox scientist is being considered for merging.

Count
Alessandro Volta

Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta

Born

18 February 1745
Como, Duchy of Milan

Died

5 March 1827 (aged 82)

Como, Lombardy-Venetia

Nationality

Italian

Fields

Physics and chemistry

Known for

Invention of the electric cell

Discovery of methane
Volt
Voltage

Voltmeter

Notable awards

Copley Medal (1794)

Legion of Honour[1]
Order of the Iron Crown[1]

Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (Italian pronunciation: [alessandro vlta]; 18

February 1745 5 March 1827) was an Italian physicist, chemist, and a pioneer
of electricity and power,[2][3][4] who is credited as the inventor of the electrical battery and the
discoverer of methane. He invented the Voltaic pile in 1799 and the results of which he reported in
1800 in a two-part letter to the President of the Royal Society.[5][6]With this invention Volta proved that
electricity could be generated chemically and debunked the prevalent theory that electricity was
generated solely by living beings. Volta's invention sparked a great amount of scientific excitement
and led others to conduct similar experiments which eventually led to the development of the field
of electrochemistry.[6]
Alessandro Volta also drew admiration from Napoleon Bonaparte for his invention, and was invited
to the Institute of France to demonstrate his invention to the members of the Institute. Volta enjoyed
a certain amount of closeness with the Emperor throughout his life and he was conferred numerous
honours by him.[1] Alessandro Volta held the chair of experimental physics at the University of
Pavia for nearly 40 years and was widely idolised by his students.[1]
Despite his professional success Volta tended to be a person inclined towards domestic life and this
was more apparent in his later years. At this time he tended to live secluded from public life and
more for the sake of his family until his eventual death in 1827 from a series of illnesses which
began in 1823.[1] The SI unit of electric potential is named in his honour as the volt.
Contents
[hide]

1Early life and works

2Volta and Galvani

3Early battery

4Last years and retirement

o

4.1Legacy

5Religious beliefs

6Publications

7See also

8References

9External links

Early life and works[edit]

Volta was born in Como, a town in present-day northern Italy (near the Swiss border) on 18 February
1745. In 1794, Volta married an aristocratic lady also from Como, Teresa Peregrini, with whom he
raised three sons: Zanino, Flaminio, and Luigi. His father, Filippo Volta, was of noble lineage. His
mother, Donna Maddalena, came from the family of the Inzaghis.[7]
In 1774, he became a professor of physics at the Royal School in Como. A year later, he improved
and popularised the electrophorus, a device that produced static electricity. His promotion of it was
so extensive that he is often credited with its invention, even though a machine operating on the
same principle was described in 1762 by the Swedish experimenter Johan Wilcke.[8][9] In 1777, he
travelled through Switzerland. There he befriended H. B. de Saussure.
In the years between 1776 and 1778, Volta studied the chemistry of gases. He researched and
discovered methane after reading a paper by Benjamin Franklin of United States on "flammable air".
In November 1776, he found methane at Lake Maggiore,[10] and by 1778 he managed to isolate
methane.[11] He devised experiments such as the ignition of methane by an electric spark in a closed
vessel.
Volta also studied what we now call electrical capacitance, developing separate means to study both
electrical potential (V ) and charge (Q ), and discovering that for a given object, they are
proportional.[12] This is called Volta's Law of Capacitance, and it was for this work the unit of electrical
potential has been named the volt.[12]
In 1779 he became a professor of experimental physics at the University of Pavia, a chair that he
occupied for almost 40 years.[1]

Volta and Galvani[edit]

Luigi Galvani, Volta's rival.

Luigi Galvani, an Italian physicist, discovered something he named "animal electricity" when two
different metals were connected in series with a frog's leg and to one another. Volta realised that the
frog's leg served as both a conductor of electricity (what we would now call an electrolyte) and as a

detector of electricity. He replaced the frog's leg with brine-soaked paper, and detected the flow of
electricity by other means familiar to him from his previous studies.
In this way he discovered the electrochemical series, and the law that the electromotive force(emf) of
a galvanic cell, consisting of a pair of metal electrodes separated by electrolyte, is the difference
between their two electrode potentials (thus, two identical electrodes and a common electrolyte give
zero net emf). This may be called Volta's Law of the electrochemical series.
In 1800, as the result of a professional disagreement over the galvanic response advocated by
Galvani, Volta invented the voltaic pile, an early electric battery, which produced a steady electric
current.[13] Volta had determined that the most effective pair of dissimilar metals to produce electricity
was zinc and copper. Initially he experimented with individual cells in series, each cell being a wine
goblet filled with brine into which the two dissimilar electrodes were dipped. The voltaic pile replaced
the goblets with cardboard soaked in brine.

Early battery[edit]

A voltaic pile.

In announcing his discovery of the voltaic pile, Volta paid tribute to the influences ofWilliam
Nicholson, Tiberius Cavallo, and Abraham Bennet.[14]
The battery made by Volta is credited as one of the first electrochemical cells. It consists of two
electrodes: one made of zinc, the other of copper. The electrolyte is either sulfuric acid mixed with
water or a form of saltwater brine. The electrolyte exists in the form 2H+ and SO42. The zinc, which is
higher in the electrochemical series than both copper and hydrogen, reacts with the negatively
charged sulfate (SO42). The positively charged hydrogen ions (protons) capture electrons from the
copper, forming bubbles of hydrogen gas, H2. This makes the zinc rod the negative electrode and the
copper rod the positive electrode.
Thus, there are two terminals, and an electric current will flow if they are connected. The chemical
reactions in this voltaic cell are as follows:
Zinc:
Zn Zn2+ + 2e
Sulfuric acid:
2H+ + 2e H2
The copper does not react, but rather it functions as an electrode for the electric current.

However, this cell also has some disadvantages. It is unsafe to handle, since sulfuric acid,
even if diluted, can be hazardous. Also, the power of the cell diminishes over time because
the hydrogen gas is not released. Instead, it accumulates on the surface of the copper
electrode and forms a barrier between the metal and the electrolyte solution.

Last years and retirement[edit]

Volta explains the principle of the "electric column"to Napoleon in 1801.

In 1809 Volta became associated member of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands.[15] In
honour of his work, Volta was made a count by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1810.[2]
Volta retired in 1819 to his estate in Camnago, a frazione of Como, Italy, now named
"Camnago Volta" in his honour. He died there on 5 March 1827, just after his 82nd birthday.
[16]
Volta's remains were buried in Camnago Volta.[17]

Legacy[edit]
Volta's legacy is celebrated by the Tempio Voltiano memorial located in the public gardens
by the lake. There is also a museum which has been built in his honour, which exhibits some
of the equipment that Volta used to conduct experiments. Nearby stands the Villa Olmo,
which houses the Voltian Foundation, an organization promoting scientific activities. Volta
carried out his experimental studies and produced his first inventions near Como.
His image was depicted on the Italian 10,000 lira note (1990-1997) along with a sketch of
his voltaic pile.

Religious beliefs[edit]
Volta was raised as a Catholic and for all of his life continued to maintain his belief.
[18]
Because he was not ordained a clergyman as his family expected, he was sometimes
accused of being irreligious and some people have speculated about his possible unbelief,
stressing that "he did not join the Church",[19] or that he virtually "ignored the church's call".
[20]
Nevertheless, he cast out doubts in a declaration of faith in which he said:
I do not understand how anyone can doubt the sincerity and constancy of my attachment to
the religion which I profess, the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic religion in which I was born
and brought up, and of which I have always made confession, externally and internally. I
have, indeed, and only too often, failed in the performance of those good works which are
the mark of a Catholic Christian, and I have been guilty of many sins: but through the special
mercy of God I have never, as far as I know, wavered in my faith... In this faith I recognise a

pure gift of God, a supernatural grace; but I have not neglected those human means which
confirm belief, and overthrow the doubts which at times arise. I studied attentively the
grounds and basis of religion, the works of apologists and assailants, the reasons for and
against, and I can say that the result of such study is to clothe religion with such a degree of
probability, even for the merely natural reason, that every spirit unperverted by sin and
passion, every naturally noble spirit must love and accept it. May this confession which has
been asked from me and which I willingly give, written and subscribed by my own hand, with
authority to show it to whomsoever you will, for I am not ashamed of the Gospel, may it
produce some good fruit![21][22]

Publications[edit]

De vi attractiva ignis electrici (1769) (On the attractive force of electric fire)

See also[edit]

Eudiometer

History of the battery

History of the internal combustion engine

Lemon battery

Volta (lunar crater)

Volta Prize

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Munro, John (1902). Pioneers of Electricity; Or, Short Lives of the Great
Electricians. London: The Religious Tract Society. pp. 89102.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b Giuliano Pancaldi, "Volta: Science and culture in the age of enlightenment",
Princeton University Press, 2003.
3. Jump up^ Alberto Gigli Berzolari, "Volta's Teaching in Como and Pavia" - Nuova voltiana
4. Jump up^ Hall of Fame, Edison.
5. Jump up^ "Milestones:Volta's Electrical Battery Invention, 1799". http://www.ieeeghn.org.
IEEE Global History Network. Retrieved 2016-04-12. External link in |website= (help)
6. ^ Jump up to:a b "Enterprise and electrolysis". http://www.rsc.org. Royal Society of Chemistry.
Retrieved 18 February 2015. External link in |website=(help)
7. Jump up^ "Life and works". Alessandrovolta.info. Como, Italy: Editoriale srl.
Retrieved February 18, 2015.

8. Jump up^ Pancaldi, Giuliano (2003). Volta, Science and Culture in the Age of Enlightenment.
Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-691-12226-7., p.73
9. Jump up^ Joh. Carl Wilcke (1762) "Ytterligare rn och frsk om contraira electriciteterne vid
laddningen och drtil hrande delar" (Additional findings and experiments on the opposing
electric charges [that are created] during charging, and parts related thereto) Kongliga
Svenska Vetenskaps Academiens Handlingar (Proceedings of the Royal Swedish Science
Academy), vol. 23, pages 206-229, 245266.
10. Jump up^ Alessandro Volta, Lettere del Signor Don Alessandro Volta Sull' Aria
Inflammabile Nativa delle Paludi [Letters of Signor Don Alessandro Volta on the
flammable native air of the marshes] (Milan, (Italy): Giuseppe Marelli, 1777).
11.Jump up^ "Methane". BookRags. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
12. ^ Jump up to:a b Williams, Jeffrey Huw (2014). Defining and Measuring Nature: The Make of
All Things. Morgan & Claypool. ISBN 978-1-627-05278-8.
13. Jump up^ Robert Routledge (1881). A popular history of science (2nd ed.). G. Routledge
and Sons. p. 553. ISBN 0-415-38381-1.
14. Jump up^ Elliott, P. (1999). "Abraham Bennet F.R.S. (1749-1799): a provincial electrician in
eighteenth-century England" (PDF). Notes and Records of the Royal Society of
London. 53 (1): 5978. doi:10.1098/rsnr.1999.0063.
15. Jump up^ "Alessandro G.A.A. Volta (1745 - 1827)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and
Sciences. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
16. Jump up^ "Volta". Institute of Chemistry - Jerusalem. Archived from the original on 8 April
2009. Retrieved 1 May 2009.
17. Jump up^ For a photograph of his gravesite, and other Volta locales, see "Volta's localities".
Retrieved 20 June 2009.[dead link]
18. Jump up^ "Gli scienziati cattolici che hanno fatto lItalia (Catholic scientists who made Italy)".
Zenit.[dead link]
19. Jump up^ 'Adam-Hart Davis. (2012). Engineers. Penguin. p. 138
20. Jump up^ Michael Brian Schiffer (2003), Draw the Lightning Down: Benjamin Franklin and
Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment. University of California Press. p. 55
21. Jump up^ Kneller, Karl Alois, Christianity and the leaders of modern science; a contribution
to the history of culture in the nineteenth century (1911), p. 117118
22. Jump up^ Alessandro Volta. 1955. Epistolario, Volume 5. Zanichelli. p. 29

External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Alessandro
Volta.

Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Alessandro Volta". Catholic Encyclopedia. New

York: Robert Appleton Company.

Electricity & Magnetism Pioneer Alessandro Volta

Volta and the "Pile"

Alessandro Volta Google Doodle

Alessandro Volta

Count Alessandro Volta

Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)

Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Volta, Alessandro". Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press.

Electrical units history.

References to Volta in European historic newspapers

Life of Alessandro Volta: Biography; Inventions; Facts