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

I had in my car a voltaic pile, consisting of sixty couples—silver and zinc.

From Wonderful Balloon Ascents by Marion, F. (Fulgence)

Plates of platina and copper, arranged as a voltaic pile with dilute sulphuric acid, could not form a voltaic trough competent to act for more than a few minutes, because of this peculiar counteracting effect.

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

In fact, bass will not be induced to decently decease by any civilized process short of a powerful shock from a voltaic pile administered in the region of their medulla oblongata.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science October, 1877. Vol XX - No. 118 by Various

Editor-engineer William Nicholson read Volta’s letter before its publication and, by the end of April, he and surgeon Anthony Carlisle had built a voltaic pile.

From The Earliest Electromagnetic Instruments by Chipman, Robert A.