For thousands of years, electricity was an ephemeral

phenomenon – there one second and gone the next.

The voltaic pile changed that forever.
Flashes of lightning and static electricity produced naturally or
by special electrostatic generators did not last long. In order for
scientists to carry out detailed studies of electricity, they needed a
reliable and long-lasting source. The invention of the Leyden jar in
the mid 1700s was an important step toward this goal. With it,
scientists could save electricity until they wanted to use it for an
experiment or demonstration. But once they did, the jar needed to
be recharged before it could be used again.
The voltaic pile, invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800, was the
first device to provide a steady supply of electricity. Volta’s
ongoing disagreement with Luigi Galvani served as the impetus
for its construction. Galvani, a physician who gave
demonstrations at the University of Bologna, observed that the
muscles of dissected frogs would seem to jump back to life under
certain conditions. He saw this happen, for instance, when he
touched his scalpel to a specimen’s nerve in a room where an
electrostatic machine was on, or when he attached a frog to an
iron rail by linking it with a copper hook pushed through its spinal
cord. Galvani believed such occurrences suggested the existence
of “animal electricity,” a phenomenon related to “artificial
electricity” (produced by an electrostatic machine or simple
friction) and “natural electricity” (associated with lightning, electric
eels, etc.).
After Galvani published his findings in the early 1790s, Volta, who
taught at the University of Padua, began trying to recreate his
experiments. Initially, Volta agreed with Galvani’s conclusions, but
soon he began to develop his own theories. Volta realized that
most of the unusual electrical behavior observed by Galvani
involved two different types of metals, such as the iron of a
scalpel and the brass of a hook. This led him to suggest that the
animal tissue was not necessary; any moist material between
different metals would produce electricity. Instead of “animal
electricity,” Volta believed in “metallic electricity.” His
disagreement with Galvani was a hot topic at the time, and each
scientist had a camp of followers. Volta devised many tests to
prove his ideas. His two-metal theory of electricity eventually
resulted in the production of the voltaic pile.
The two metals Volta used to build the pile were zinc and copper,
although he experimented with many other metals as well. He
alternated discs of the opposing metals with pasteboard or cloth
dampened with brine (a solution of water and salt) or vinegar. An
electrochemical reaction in each three-disc unit of the pile formed
an electric cell and generated a current. Therefore, by changing
the number of units, Volta could increase or decrease the amount
of electricity produced. By attaching a wire to the end of the pile,
electricity could be supplied steadily. Galvani’s focus on “animal”
electricity seemed to influence Volta’s name for his new device:
“electric organ.”
In addition to the pile, Volta built a similar but less practical
device. Its cells were formed from brine-filled wine goblets into
which two electrodes of dissimilar metal were placed. The goblets
were then linked by their electrodes in a series, producing an
electric current. Replacing the goblet design (known as the “crown
of cups”) with the disc-based design of the pile made Volta’s
primitive battery a simpler, more compact tool for scientists.
The voltaic pile soon became a favorite at public and private
demonstrations, which were a form of popular entertainment
during the period. In 1801, Volta demonstrated the pile for
Napoleon and his court. Volta so impressed the French leader
that he made him a count. Voltaic piles quickly began showing up
in laboratories and facilitated many scientific discoveries in the
early 19th century. In a matter of months after Volta’s device
became public, William Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle used it to
divide water into its basic components – hydrogen and oxygen.
Their achievement ushered in an entirely new branch of science
called electrochemistry.
Though it was revolutionary, the voltaic pile did have a number of
shortcomings. The number of cells that could be stacked in each
pile (and thus the voltage it produced) was limited because the
weight of the upper cells could become so heavy that it would
squeeze the brine out of the pasteboard or cloth in the lower cells.
Also, the metal disks in the pile tended to corrode over time and
the life of the device was short. Over the years, scientists made
many improvements to the pile as it gradually evolved into the
modern battery. Today, whenever you start your car, listen to
tunes on a portable device, or do anything else that requires
batteries, you owe a bit of gratitude to the Italian scientist and
inventor Alessandro Volta.
Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)

One of the enthusiastic admirers of Galvani was a university

professor in Padova Alessandro Guiseppe Antonio Anastasio
Volta. He repeated Galvani's experiments many times with many
different materials. From these experiments he came to the
conclusion that it was the two dissimilar metals, not the frog’s leg
that produced the electicity. The frog’s leg was just an indicator of
presence of the electricity.

In 1800, after extensive experimentation, he developed the voltaic

pile. The original voltaic pile consisted of a pile of zinc and silver
discs and between alternating discs, a piece of cardboard that
had been soaked in saltwater. A wire connecting the bottom zinc
disc to the top silver disc could produce repeated sparks. No frogs
were injured in the production of a voltaic pile.
Volta built different piles using thirty, forty or sixty elements. This
enabled him to study the action of the pile on the electric fluid,
depending on the number of elements, and he confirmed that the
electric shock increased in intensity with the number of elements
used in the pile. If more than twenty elements were used, it
became painful. The first piles constructed by Volta comprised
alternating zinc and copper discs. Each was separated from its
neighbor by a piece of cloth or card dampened by an acid
solution. The column was supported by three vertical glass rods.