Alessandro Volta Facts
Alessandro Volta Facts
|
| Interesting Alessandro Volta Facts: |
|---|
| Alessandro Volta was born in Como, Italy, at the northern border. |
| After completing his education, Volta became a professor and inventor. |
| He made significant improvements to a device called the electrophorus, used for producing an electrostatic charge. |
| His improvements and subsequent naming of the device have led to his being credited with the actual inventing of it, although that is false; it was actually invented by Johan Carl Wilcke. |
| Volta conducted important work on methane gas after learning about it from a paper written Benjamin Franklin. |
| He not only found and isolated methane gas in Italy, he designed and demonstrated a number of experiments with methane and its uses. |
| Volta became a professor at the University of Pavia, chairing the experimental physics department for the next forty years. |
| In collaboration with Galvani (of galvanized steel), Volta experimented on conducting a current between two different metals by running the current through a frog's leg. |
| He later experimented with saltwater-soaked paper in place of the animal's leg as a means of conductivity, and from these experiments constructed Volta's Law of the Electrochemical Series. |
| Volta's later work on the battery evolved from this discovery of the voltaic pile. |
| This battery is remembered in scientific history as the first electrochemical cell. |
| He used pieces of zinc and copper as the electrodes, and either sulfuric acid or saltwater as the electrolyte. |
| While still an astounding discovery, this battery had its drawbacks. |
| It was unsafe due to the sulfuric acid, and since the hydrogen is not released in the reaction, it instead accumulated on one of the electrodes, diminishing its ability to conduct as the hydrogen built up. |
| Volta retired to his estate outside Como after a long career which included being named a count by Napoleon for his contributions to science. |
| A number of memorials have been setup in Volta's name, including the electrical term "volt." |
|
Related Links: Facts Scientists Facts Animals Facts |