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

The first extends from the date of publication of Gilbert’s great treatise in 1600 to the invention by Volta of the voltaic pile and the first production of the electric current in 1799.

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

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

To him we owe the discovery of the voltaic pile, to which for a brief interval we must now turn our attention.

From Faraday as a Discoverer by Tyndall, John

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