Alessandro Volta: Difference between revisions

Count
Alessandro Volta
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
Known for	Invention of the electric cell ; Discovery of methane; Volt; Voltage; Voltmeter
Awards	Copley Medal (1794); Legion of Honour; Order of the Iron Crown
	Scientific career
Fields	Physics and chemistry

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Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (Italian: [alesˈsandro ˈvɔlta]; 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 reported the results of his experiments 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.

Early life and works

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 the 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

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

In announcing his discovery of the voltaic pile, Volta paid tribute to the influences of William 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

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

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

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

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

References

^ ^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. 89–102.
^ ^a ^b Giuliano Pancaldi, "Volta: Science and culture in the age of enlightenment", Princeton University Press, 2003.
^ Alberto Gigli Berzolari, "Volta's Teaching in Como and Pavia" - Nuova voltiana
^ Hall of Fame, Edison.
^ "Milestones:Volta's Electrical Battery Invention, 1799". http://www.ieeeghn.org. IEEE Global History Network. Retrieved 12 April 2016. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
^ ^a ^b "Enterprise and electrolysis". http://www.rsc.org. Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved 18 February 2015. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
^ "Life and works". Alessandrovolta.info. Como, Italy: Editoriale srl. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
^ Pancaldi, Giuliano (2003). Volta, Science and Culture in the Age of Enlightenment. Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-691-12226-7., p.73
^ Joh. Carl Wilcke (1762) "Ytterligare rön och försök om contraira electriciteterne vid laddningen och därtil hörande 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, 245–266.
^ 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).
^ "Methane". BookRags. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
^ ^a ^b Williams, Jeffrey Huw (2014). Defining and Measuring Nature: The Make of All Things. Morgan & Claypool. ISBN 978-1-627-05278-8.
^ Robert Routledge (1881). A popular history of science (2nd ed.). G. Routledge and Sons. p. 553. ISBN 0-415-38381-1.
^ 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): 59–78. doi:10.1098/rsnr.1999.0063.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Alessandro G.A.A. Volta (1745 - 1827)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
^ "Volta". Institute of Chemistry - Jerusalem. Archived from the original on 8 April 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ For a photograph of his gravesite, and other Volta locales, see "Volta's localities". Retrieved 20 June 2009. ^{[dead link]}
^ "Gli scienziati cattolici che hanno fatto lItalia (Catholic scientists who made Italy)". Zenit.^{[dead link]}
^ 'Adam-Hart Davis. (2012). Engineers. Penguin. p. 138
^ Michael Brian Schiffer (2003), Draw the Lightning Down: Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment. University of California Press. p. 55
^ Kneller, Karl Alois, Christianity and the leaders of modern science; a contribution to the history of culture in the nineteenth century (1911), p. 117–118
^ Alessandro Volta. 1955. Epistolario, Volume 5. Zanichelli. p. 29

External links

Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Alessandro Volta" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Volta and the "Pile"
Alessandro Volta Google Doodle
Alessandro Volta
Count Alessandro Volta
Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Volta, Alessandro" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 198.
Electrical units history.
References to Volta in European historic newspapers
Life of Alessandro Volta: Biography; Inventions; Facts

[ArchiveBook-1] ^ ^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. 89–102.

[wmnqsy-2] Giuliano Pancaldi, "Volta: Science and culture in the age of enlightenment", Princeton University Press, 2003.

[nxukip-3] Alberto Gigli Berzolari, "Volta's Teaching in Como and Pavia" - Nuova voltiana

[4] Hall of Fame, Edison.

[5] "Milestones:Volta's Electrical Battery Invention, 1799". http://www.ieeeghn.org. IEEE Global History Network. Retrieved 12 April 2016. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)

[RoyalSocRef-6] "Enterprise and electrolysis". http://www.rsc.org. Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved 18 February 2015. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)

[Alessandrovolta.info_February_18_2015c-7] "Life and works". Alessandrovolta.info. Como, Italy: Editoriale srl. Retrieved 18 February 2015.

[8] Pancaldi, Giuliano (2003). Volta, Science and Culture in the Age of Enlightenment. Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-691-12226-7., p.73

[9] Joh. Carl Wilcke (1762) "Ytterligare rön och försök om contraira electriciteterne vid laddningen och därtil hörande 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, 245–266.

[10] 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] "Methane". BookRags. Retrieved 26 January 2012.

[Williams2014-12] Williams, Jeffrey Huw (2014). Defining and Measuring Nature: The Make of All Things. Morgan & Claypool. ISBN 978-1-627-05278-8.

[Routledge-13] Robert Routledge (1881). A popular history of science (2nd ed.). G. Routledge and Sons. p. 553. ISBN 0-415-38381-1.

[14] 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): 59–78. doi:10.1098/rsnr.1999.0063.^{[permanent dead link]}

[15] "Alessandro G.A.A. Volta (1745 - 1827)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 20 July 2015.

[16] "Volta". Institute of Chemistry - Jerusalem. Archived from the original on 8 April 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[17] For a photograph of his gravesite, and other Volta locales, see "Volta's localities". Retrieved 20 June 2009. ^{[dead link]}

[18] "Gli scienziati cattolici che hanno fatto lItalia (Catholic scientists who made Italy)". Zenit.^{[dead link]}

[19] 'Adam-Hart Davis. (2012). Engineers. Penguin. p. 138

[20] 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] Kneller, Karl Alois, Christianity and the leaders of modern science; a contribution to the history of culture in the nineteenth century (1911), p. 117–118

[22] Alessandro Volta. 1955. Epistolario, Volume 5. Zanichelli. p. 29

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{pp-pc1|small=yes}}
-He worked at the workhouse!
+{{For|the concept car|Toyota Alessandro Volta}}
+{{use British English|date=February 2015}}
+{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}}
+{{Infobox scientist
+| name        = Alessandro Volta
+| image       = Alessandro Volta.jpeg
+| caption     = Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta
+| birth_date  = {{birth date|1745|2|18|df=yes}}
+| birth_place = [[Como]], [[Duchy of Milan]]
+| death_date  = {{death date and age|1827|3|5|1745|2|18|df=y}}
+| death_place = [[Como]], [[Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia|Lombardy-Venetia]]
+| nationality = Italian
+| known_for   = Invention of the [[Battery (electricity)|electric cell]] <br />Discovery of [[methane]]<br>[[Volt]]<br>[[Voltage]]<br>[[Voltmeter]]
+| awards      = [[Copley Medal]] (1794)<br/>[[Legion of Honour]]<ref name="ArchiveBook"/><br/>[[Order of the Iron Crown]]<ref name="ArchiveBook"/>
+| honorific_prefix   = [[Count]]
+| field       = [[Physics]] and [[chemistry]]
+}}
+'''Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta''' ({{IPA-it|alesˈsandro ˈvɔlta|lang}}; 18 February 1745 &ndash; 5 March 1827) was an [[Italian people|Italian]] [[physicist]], [[chemist]], and a pioneer of [[electricity]] and [[Power (physics)|power]],<ref name = "wmnqsy">Giuliano Pancaldi, ''"Volta: Science and culture in the age of enlightenment"'', Princeton University Press, 2003.</ref><ref name = "nxukip">Alberto Gigli Berzolari, ''"Volta's Teaching in Como and Pavia"'' - Nuova voltiana</ref><ref>[http://www.edisontechcenter.org/HallofFame.html Hall of Fame], Edison.</ref> who is credited as the inventor of the [[electrical battery]] and the discoverer of [[methane]]. He invented the [[Voltaic pile]] in 1799, and reported the results of his experiments in 1800 in a two-part letter to the President of the [[Royal Society]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Milestones:Volta's Electrical Battery Invention, 1799 |url=http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:Volta%27s_Electrical_Battery_Invention,_1799 |website=http://www.ieeeghn.org |publisher=IEEE Global History Network|accessdate=2016-04-12}}</ref><ref name="RoyalSocRef">{{cite web|title=Enterprise and electrolysis|url=http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2003/August/electrolysis.asp|website=http://www.rsc.org|publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry|accessdate=18 February 2015}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="RoyalSocRef"/>
+Alessandro Volta also drew admiration from [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]] for his invention, and was invited to the [[Institut de France|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.<ref name="ArchiveBook"/> Alessandro Volta held the chair of experimental physics at the [[University of Pavia]] for nearly 40 years and was widely idolised by his students.<ref name="ArchiveBook"/>
+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.<ref name="ArchiveBook"/> The [[International System of Units|SI]] unit of [[electric potential]] is named in his honour as the [[volt]].
+== Early life and works ==
+Volta was born in [[Como]], a town in present-day northern [[Italy]] (near the [[Switzerland|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.<ref name="Alessandrovolta.info_February_18_2015c">{{cite web |url=http://www.alessandrovolta.info/life_and_works_8.html |title=Life and works |newspaper=Alessandrovolta.info |publisher=Editoriale srl |location=Como, Italy |accessdate= February 18, 2015}}</ref>
+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]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Pancaldi|first=Giuliano|year= 2003|title=Volta, Science and Culture in the Age of Enlightenment|publisher=Princeton Univ. Press|url=https://books.google.com/?id=hGoYB1Twx4sC&pg=PA73|isbn=978-0-691-12226-7}}, p.73</ref><ref>Joh. Carl Wilcke (1762) "Ytterligare rön och försök om ''contraira electriciteterne'' vid laddningen och därtil hörande 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 [https://books.google.com/books?id=HHRJAAAAcAAJ&lpg=PA210&ots=z7rONACULS&pg=PA202#v=onepage&q&f=false 206-229], 245–266.</ref> 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 the United States on "flammable air". In November 1776, he found methane at [[Lake Maggiore]],<ref>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).</ref> and by 1778 he managed to isolate methane.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bookrags.com/research/methane-woc/ |title=Methane |publisher=BookRags |accessdate=26 January 2012}}</ref> He devised experiments such as the [[combustion|ignition]] of methane by an electric [[Electrostatic discharge|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.<ref name=Williams2014>{{cite book |author=Williams, Jeffrey Huw |title=Defining and Measuring Nature: The Make of All Things |year=2014 |publisher=Morgan & Claypool |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iPO9BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT76&lpg=PT76&dq=volta%27s+law+of+capacitance&source=bl&ots=SM5BsYjTIX&sig=eBtfeyO-XGN_dU8orDwoUSBQq4M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4crkVNeHOabPsQSJzYDAAw&sqi=2&ved=0CE0Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&f=false |isbn=978-1-627-05278-8}}</ref> This is called Volta's Law of Capacitance, and it was for this work the unit of electrical potential has been named the [[volt]].<ref name=Williams2014/>
+In 1779 he became a professor of experimental physics at the [[University of Pavia]], a chair that he occupied for almost 40 years.<ref name=ArchiveBook>{{cite book|author=Munro, John|title=Pioneers of Electricity; Or, Short Lives of the Great Electricians|year=1902|publisher=The Religious Tract Society| location = London|pages=89–102|url=https://archive.org/details/pioneerselectri00munrgoog}}</ref>
+== Volta and Galvani ==
+[[File:Luigi Galvani, oil-painting.jpg|thumb|[[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 [[electrode]]s 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 [[Battery (electricity)|electric battery]], which produced a steady electric current.<ref name=Routledge>{{cite book|title=A popular history of science|author=Robert Routledge|url=https://books.google.com/?id=VO1HAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA553|page=553 |edition=2nd|year=1881|publisher=G. Routledge and Sons|isbn=0-415-38381-1}}</ref> 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 ==
+[[File:Voltaic pile.svg|thumb|300px|A [[voltaic pile]]]]
+In announcing his discovery of the voltaic pile, Volta paid tribute to the influences of [[William Nicholson (chemist)|William Nicholson]], [[Tiberius Cavallo]], and [[Abraham Bennet]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Elliott, P. |title=Abraham Bennet F.R.S. (1749-1799): a provincial electrician in eighteenth-century England |journal=Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=59–78 |year=1999 |url=http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/content/klgdd0umcmvjqnpr/fulltext.pdf |format=PDF |doi=10.1098/rsnr.1999.0063 }}{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
+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<sup>+</sup> and SO<sub>4</sub><sup>2−</sup>. The zinc, which is higher in the [[standard electrode potential (data page)|electrochemical series]] than both copper and hydrogen, reacts with the negatively charged sulfate (SO<sub>4</sub><sup>2−</sup>). The positively charged hydrogen ions ([[proton]]s) capture [[electron]]s from the copper, forming bubbles of hydrogen gas, H<sub>2</sub>. 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 reaction]]s in this voltaic cell are as follows:
+:Zinc:
+::Zn <big><big>→</big></big> Zn<sup>2+</sup> + 2e<sup>−</sup>
+:Sulfuric acid:
+::2H<sup>+</sup> + 2e<sup>−</sup> <big><big>→</big></big> H<sub>2</sub>
+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 ==
+[[File:Painting of Volta by Bertini (photo).jpeg|thumb|300px|Volta explains the principle of the ''"electric column"'' to [[Napoleon Bonaparte|Napoleon]] in 1801]]
+In 1809 Volta became associated member of the [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences|Royal Institute of the Netherlands]].<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00003610 |title=Alessandro G.A.A. Volta (1745 - 1827) |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |date= |accessdate=20 July 2015}}</ref> In honour of his work, Volta was made a count by [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] in 1810.<ref name = "wmnqsy"/>
+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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/history/volta.htm#end |title=Volta |publisher=Institute of Chemistry - Jerusalem |accessdate=1 May 2009 |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20090408220853/http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/history/volta.htm |archivedate= 8 April 2009 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> Volta's remains were buried in Camnago Volta.<ref>For a photograph of his gravesite, and other Volta locales, see {{cite web |title=Volta's localities |url=http://www.corrieredicomo.it/pg_interna.cfm?IndiceID=526&MenuID=2 |accessdate=20 June 2009}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>
+=== Legacy ===
+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 lira|Italian 10,000 lira note]] (1990-1997) along with a sketch of his voltaic pile.
+== Religious beliefs ==
+Volta was raised as a Catholic and for all of his life continued to maintain his belief.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zenit.org/article-29971?l=italian|title=Gli scienziati cattolici che hanno fatto lItalia (Catholic scientists who made Italy)|publisher=Zenit}}{{dead link|date=April 2016}}</ref> 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",<ref>'Adam-Hart Davis. (2012). ''Engineers''. Penguin. p. 138</ref> or that he virtually "ignored the church's call".<ref>Michael Brian Schiffer (2003), ''Draw the Lightning Down: Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment''. University of California Press. p. 55</ref>  Nevertheless, he cast out doubts in a declaration of faith in which he said:
+<blockquote>
+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!<ref>Kneller, Karl Alois, ''[https://archive.org/stream/christianitylead00knelrich#page/118/mode/2up Christianity and the leaders of modern science; a contribution to the history of culture in the nineteenth century]'' (1911), p. 117–118</ref><ref>Alessandro Volta. 1955. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=eJPnAAAAMAAJ&dq=editions:Lg-BQ9M7x6IC  Epistolario, Volume 5]''. Zanichelli. p. 29</ref>
+</blockquote>
+== Publications ==
+*''De vi attractiva ignis electrici'' (1769) (''On the attractive force of electric fire'')
+== See also ==
+* [[Eudiometer]]
+* [[History of the battery]]
+* [[History of the internal combustion engine]]
+* [[Lemon battery]]
+* [[Volta (crater)|Volta (lunar crater)]]
+* [[Volta Prize]]
+== References ==
+{{reflist|35em}}
+== External links ==
+{{Commons category|Alessandro Volta}}
+*{{CathEncy|wstitle=Alessandro Volta}}
+*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120716205546/http://electrochem.cwru.edu/encycl/art-v01-volta.htm Volta and the "Pile"]
+*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXwUTZqeIrg Alessandro Volta Google Doodle]
+*[http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/volta.htm Alessandro Volta]
+*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030624/http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/volta.html Count Alessandro Volta]
+*[http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Biographies/VoltaBio.htm Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)]
+*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Volta, Alessandro |volume=28 |page=198}}
+*[http://histoires-de-sciences.over-blog.fr/2013/11/electrical-units-history.html Electrical units history.]
+*[http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/tel4/newspapers/search?query=%22alessandro%20volta%22 References to Volta in European historic newspapers]
+*[https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/history/pioneers/alessandro-volta-biography.php Life of Alessandro Volta: Biography; Inventions; Facts]
+{{Authority control}}
+{{Copley Medallists 1751-1800}}
+{{Scientists whose names are used as SI units}}
+{{DEFAULTSORT:Volta, Alessandro}}
+[[Category:Alessandro Volta| ]]
+[[Category:1745 births]]
+[[Category:1827 deaths]]
+[[Category:18th-century Italian scientists]]
+[[Category:19th-century Italian scientists]]
+[[Category:Battery inventors]]
+[[Category:Enlightenment scientists]]
+[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
+[[Category:Independent scientists]]
+[[Category:History of neuroscience]]
+[[Category:Italian inventors]]
+[[Category:Italian physicists]]
+[[Category:Italian Roman Catholics]]
+[[Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
+[[Category:People associated with electricity]]
+[[Category:People from Como]]
+[[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]]
+[[Category:Scientific instrument makers]]
+[[Category:University of Pavia faculty]]

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