First Experiment.
If a plate of clean bright zinc is placed in a vessel containing some dilute sulphuric acid, energetic action occurs from the oxidation of the metal, and its union as an oxide with the acid, and the escape of a multitude of bubbles of hydrogen gas. After the action has proceeded some time, the zinc may be removed, and if a little quicksilver is now rubbed over the surface with a woollen rag tied on the end of a stick, it unites with the metal, and the surface of the zinc assumes a brilliant silvery appearance, and is said to be amalgamated. In that condition it is no longer acted upon by dilute sulphuric acid, and for the sake of economy this is the only form in which zinc should be employed in the construction of voltaic batteries or single circles. If a clean plate of copper, with a wire attached, is now placed in the dilute acid opposite to and not touching the amalgamated zinc plate, which may also be furnished with a conducting wire, no bubbles of hydrogen escape until the wires from the two metals are brought in contact, and then, singular to relate, the hydrogen escapes from the copper plate, whilst the oxygen is rapidly absorbed by the zinc, and a current of electricity will now be found to pass from the zinc through the fluid to the copper, and back again through the wire to the starting point, and if the wires are disconnected, the chemical action ceases, and no more electricity is produced. (Fig. 179.)
Fig. 179.
A single voltaic circle, consisting of a zinc and copper plate (marked z and c) in dilute acid. The arrows show the direction of the current.
The passage of the current of electricity is not discoverable by the electroscope, because it is adapted only to indicate electricity of high tension or intensity, such as that produced from the electrical machine, which will pass rapidly through a certain thickness of air, and cause pith balls to stand out and repel each other; such effects are not producible by a single voltaic circle, or even an ordinary voltaic battery, although one comprising some hundreds of alternations would produce an effect on a delicate electrometer; hence voltaic electricity is said to be of low intensity, and this property makes it much more useful to mankind, because it has no desire to leave a metallic path prepared for it, and does not seize the first opportunity, like the electricity from the electrical machine, to run away to the earth through the best and shortest conductor offered for it. If electricity had only been producible by friction, we should never have heard of electrotyping, and the other useful applications of electrical force of low intensity.
Second Experiment.
To ascertain the passage of a current of voltaic electricity, the instrument called the galvanometer needle is provided, which consists of a coil of copper wire surrounding a magnetic needle, so as to leave the latter freedom of motion from right to left, or vice versá. When this coil is made part of the voltaic circle it becomes magnetic, and reacting on the magnetized needle, deflects it to one side or the other, according to the direction of the current. (Fig. 180.)
Fig. 180.