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

See Examples For:

voltaic pile

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

From Scientific American ● Oct. 29, 2017

Here," he said, stopping before a china capsule in which two wires of a voltaic pile were dipped, "is an experiment whose results ought to be watched.

From The Alkahest by Wormeley, Katharine Prescott

At first they used the voltaic pile, but abandoned it in favour of Faraday's recent discovery that electricity could be generated in a wire by the motion of a magnet.

From Heroes of the Telegraph by Munro, John

Early in 1800 Volta wrote a letter to the President of the Royal Society of London announcing the epochal discovery of a device now known as the voltaic pile.

From Artificial Light Its Influence upon Civilization by Luckiesh, Matthew

With this crude apparatus and with no greater electromotive force than could be attained from a voltaic pile, he converted charcoal into graphite, volatilized phosphorus from its compounds, isolated metallic calcium and synthesized calcium carbide.

From Creative Chemistry Descriptive of Recent Achievements in the Chemical Industries by Slosson, Edwin E.