From "Animal" Electricity to "Metallic" Electricity and the Beginning of Electrochemistry: The Didactical View (original) (raw)
Related papers
From high school to University, students have always faced problems understanding the functioning of an electrochemical cell. In this article we will show that many of these encountered difficulties have been identified by scientists during the development of electrochemistry. Therefore, we will demonstrate how Volta, who rejected the idea of "animal" electricity as was illustrated by Galvani, postulated the existence of "metallic" electricity. Meanwhile, there was the emergence of a new theory, among others, initiated, by Faraday: The electrochemistry. Its development raised several controversial discussions among researchers and several conceptual difficulties will have been overcome as well.
Debating the Nature of Voltaic Electricity
2014
The invention of Volta’s pile started a long lasting controversy on the nature of voltaic electricity, the overview of which is provided by Helge Kragh in volume 1 of Nuova Voltiana. 1 In particular, he indicates that the controversy subsided in the 1840s and rekindled in the 1880s with a new focus on the nature of contact potential. This change of subject implies that it may be possible, if not necessary, to discuss separately the earlier period, when the controversy still revolved around the original question: does the electricity produced in a voltaic circuit originate from the mutual contact of two different metals or from chemical reactions? Yet, even within this earlier period, the amount of material available and the number of relevant issues to be addressed preclude a comprehensive coverage within the space limitation of this paper. Thus, I will bring up only a few questions, illustrating them by selected examples. The focus will be on interaction between theory and experime...
Luigi Galvani and animal electricity: two centuries after the foundation of electrophysiology
Trends in Neurosciences, 1997
Luigi Galvani and his famous experiments on frogs carried out in the second half of the 18th century belong more to legend than to the history of science. Galvani not only laid the foundations of a new science, electrophysiology, but also opened the way for the invention of the electric battery, and thus for the development of the physical investigations of electricity. However, in spite of the widespread celebration of his work,Galvani's scientific endeavours have been largely misrepresented in the history of science.The scholar of Bologna has a stereotyped image as an 'occasional' scientist, who started his studies by chance, largely ignored the scientific theories of his time and wandered aimlessly in mental elaborations until the physicist of Pavia, Alessandro Volta, entered the field, correctly interpreted Galvani's results and eventually developed the electric battery. With the present understanding of electrical phenomena in excitable membranes, it is now time to reconsider the real matter raised by Galvani's discoveries and by his hypothesis of an intrinsic 'animal electricity', and to make a clearer evaluation of a revolutionary phase of scientific progress.
Animal electricity and the birth of electrophysiology: the legacy of Luigi Galvani
Brain Research Bulletin, 1998
Preceded by a companion paper on Galvani's life, this article is written on the occasion of the bicentenary of the death of Luigi Galvani. From his studies on the effects of electricity on frogs, the scientist of Bologna derived the hypothesis that animal tissues are endowed with an intrinsic electricity that is involved in fundamental physiological processes such as nerve conduction and muscle contraction. Galvani's work swept away from life sciences mysterious fluids and elusive entities like "animal spirits" and led to the foundation of a new science, electrophysiology. Two centuries of research work have demonstrated how insightful was Galvani's conception of animal electricity. Nevertheless, the scholar of Bologna is still largely misrepresented in the history of science, because the importance of his researches seems to be limited to the fact that they opened the paths to the studies of the physicist Alessandro Volta, which culminated in 1800 with the invention of the electric battery. Volta strongly opposed Galvani's theories on animal electricity. The matter of the scientific controversy between Galvani and Volta is examined here in the light of two centuries of electrophysiological studies leading to the modern understanding of electrical excitability in nerve and muscle. By surveying the work of scientists such as Nobili, Matteucci, du Bois-Reymond, von Helmholtz, Bernstein, Hermann, Lucas, Adrian, Hodgkin, Huxley, and Katz, the real matter of the debate raised by Galvani's discoveries is here reconsidered. In addition, a revolutionary phase of the 18th century science that opened the way for the development of modern neurosciences is reevaluated.
Luigi Galvani and the Debate on Animal Electricity
Difficulties in learning Ohm’s Law suggest a need to refocus it from the law for a part of the circuit to the law for the whole circuit. Such a revision may improve understanding of Ohm’s Law and its practical applications. This suggestion comes from an analysis of the history of the law’s discovery and its teaching. The historical materials this paper provides can also help teacher to improve students’ insights into the nature of science.