Fri 2 Jun 2006
The Baghdad battery
Posted by Jon Haynes under Uncategorized
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This is quite interesting Baghdad battery is quite interesting. Scientists discovered this battery in village of Khuyut Rabbou’a, Iraq in the 1936, however it was not until 1938 that the possibility of it being a battery was looked at, and not until 1940 when a paper was published theorized its potential use. The object is said to date between 250 BC and 224 AD, which many say prove that the ancient had a working knowledge of electric. However even though this to elude to that it seems very improbable that they realized the potential of the battery to power things. This battery only had a current of 1 volt and is believe to have been use to electroplate silver with a coating of gold; sufficient to say it is a long ways off from anything like Toshiba’s recent battery. The real question is if the ancients did have an full understanding of electricity how was this knowledge lost for well over 1,500 years, before anyone redeveloped something similar. The battery consists of a clay jar, which would likely be filled with some sort of liquid like vinegar and two pieces of metal a iron rod in the center surrounded by a copper sheet which formed an electrochemical couple meaning they would produce voltage when combined with an electrolyte like vinegar or some other acid. Unfortunately we may never know for sure whether it actually was used as a battery although it is certainly a very plausible explanation.
