Why are the terms “galvanic” and “voltaic” applied?
They originated in honor of Galvani and Volta, the Italian philosophers who first developed these phenomena of chemical electricity, and the means of producing them.
HIGH-RESISTANCE GALVANOMETER FOR VERY SMALL CURRENTS
Are there many metals or other substances which, when brought together, are capable of producing galvanic action?
The number is quite large; among them we may enumerate the following: zinc, lead, tin, antimony, iron, brass, copper, silver, gold, platinum, black lead or graphite, and charcoal.
Will any two of these brought together produce a galvanic current?
They will; but they possess the power in different degrees; and the more remote they stand from each other in the order above given, the more decidedly will the chemical electricity be developed.
Thus zinc and lead will produce a voltaic battery, but it will be much less active than zinc and iron, or the same metal and copper, and this last less active than zinc and platinum, or zinc and charcoal.
Does galvanic or voltaic electricity appear to consist of two kinds, positive and negative, as in ordinary electricity?