Bunsen cell

Bunsen's cell

The Bunsen cell is a zinc-carbon primary cell (colloquially called "battery") composed of a zinc anode in dilute sulfuric acid separated by a porous pot from a carbon cathode in nitric or chromic acid. The cell voltage is about 1.9 volts.

The cell is named after its inventor, German chemist Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, who improved upon the Grove cell by replacing Grove's platinum cathode with carbon in the form of pulverized coal and coke. This battery, like Grove's, also emitted noxious fumes.

Bunsen used this cell to extract metals from their salts by electrolysis, enabling him to isolate metallic magnesium for the first time.

Henri Moissan used a stack of 90 cells for the electrolysis of hydrogen fluoride to obtain the element fluorine for the first time.

See also

• Daniell cell
• Volta cell
• History of the battery
• Primary cell terminology

Notes

• Ayrton, W.E. (1911). Practical Electricity. London: Cassell and Company. pp. pp. 183-185. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Peschel, Karl Friedrich (1846). Elements of Physics. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. pp. p. 82. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• R. Bunsen (1841). "Ueber eine neue Construction der galvanischen Säule". Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie. 38: 311–313. doi:10.1002/jlac.18410380306. {{cite journal}}: Text "issue 3" ignored (help)
• R. Bunsen (1841). "Ueber die Anwendung der Kohle zu Volta'schen Batterien". Annalen der Physik und Chemie. 130 (11): 417–430. doi:10.1002/andp.18411301109.

External links

• Bunsen "Battery" Offline as of February 8, 2007.