Electronegativity and ancient batteries.
Galvanic corrosion (1) and it connects with batteries
Did ancient civilizations know electricity? What if we would drag down sodium on the gold? That thing would cause very high voltage or at least a highly dangerous electric phenomenon. The electric phenomenon would cause an explosion because sodium is highly reactive metal. In the chemistry is the effect, what is called electronegativity(2), and that effect is making things like batteries possible.
The electronegativity means that the electrons are moving to the more electronegative atoms, and that thing makes electromagnetic corrosion possible. The ships are protected against this by using bites of zink, which are put in the bottom of the ship, and that causes that the more ignoble zink would corrosive, but iron is untouchable. The same effect that makes ships rusty is used in batteries. The net can be found charts, which show the distance between metals in the electronegativity series.
The distance in that line is really important in this kind of case. In the next example, I will use metals gold and sodium, but the combinations like lead and gold or zink and gold are also suitable for this kind of purpose.
If the distance between two metals in this table is very long, that means that the electrons are moving more effective between metals. That will increase voltage, and if the gold would touch the sodium, that will make very high voltage, and the thing is that if there is acid in the same pool, that thing makes the electrons moving.
Gold and sodium would make possible to create quite high voltage electricity, which can be used in the electrolytic reaction. When we are thinking the case, that the sodium and gold are in the same pool and the water-acid mixture is put in the pool, that thing causes electrolysis and the forming of the hydrogen. If there is a flame, that will explode the hydrogen immediately.
What would we do with gold and lead? Volta's battery (3)
But the thing is that if we would put the gold and zink bites in the hollow tree stick, we could make a thing, what is called Volta's battery. Volta's battery is lead or zink, canvas (Volta used paper), where is acid and gold or iron plates on top of each other.
If there are two electric conductors connected to that thing, that will create even the electric arc. And in the second case, Volta's battery, which is in elder books sometimes called the Statue of Volta can be used as the electric baton, which brings the one really interesting idea in the mind, and that is that maybe ancient Egyptian priests had got this kind of equipment.
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