voltaic pile

American  

noun

Electricity.

1. an early battery cell, consisting of several metal disks, each made of one of two dissimilar metals, arranged in an alternating series, and separated by pads moistened with an electrolyte.

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voltaic pile British  

noun

1. Also called: pile.   galvanic pile.   Volta's pile.  an early form of battery consisting of a pile of paired plates of dissimilar metals, such as zinc and copper, each pair being separated from the next by a pad moistened with an electrolyte

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voltaic pile Scientific  

1. A source of electricity consisting of a number of disks that alternate between two different metals and are separated by acid-moistened pads, forming a set of galvanic cells connected in series.

2. See more at galvanic See Note at battery

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Etymology

Origin of voltaic pile

First recorded in 1805–15

Example Sentences

“I have just completed a curious voltaic pile which I think you would like to see,” he wrote.

From Scientific American • Oct. 29, 2017

In 1811, at Glasgow, a noted chemist tried the effect of a voltaic "pile" of two hundred and seventy pairs of plates upon the body of a murderer.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 122, December, 1867 by Various

The energy of burning coal, through the steam-engine, working the dynamo, is far cheaper and more efficient for producing electricity than the consumption of metals through the voltaic pile.

From Beacon Lights of History, Volume 14 The New Era; A Supplementary Volume, by Recent Writers, as Set Forth in the Preface and Table of Contents by Lord, John

The following experiments complete the series of proofs of the origin of the electricity in the voltaic pile.

From Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 by Faraday, Michael

The Voltaic Pile.—This led him about 1799 to devise his famous voltaic pile consisting of disks of copper and zinc or other metals with wet cloth placed between the pairs.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 2 "Ehud" to "Electroscope" by Various