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

His system uses the same mechanism as the voltaic pile, the world's first electrical battery giving a continuous current invented in 1799 by Alessandro Volta.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

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

From Scientific American ● Oct. 29, 2017

Among the first to burn leaf metal with a voltaic pile was J. B. Tromsdorff of Erfurt who noted in 1801 the distinctly different colors of the flames produced by the various common metals.

From The Earliest Electromagnetic Instruments by Robert A. Chipman

Just after the invention of the voltaic pile in 1800 it came to be used in medicine with wonderful results.

From Psychotherapy by James J. (James Joseph) Walsh

Grouped about his feet are a gear-wheel, voltaic pile, telegraph key, and telephone.

From Edison, His Life and Inventions by Frank Lewis Dyer