Inventor: Walther Hermann Nernst, b.1864 – d.1941. He was awarded in 1920 the Nobel Prize in chemistry / Friedrich Dolezalek, b.1873 - d.1920

Date: 1st quarter 20th century

Description

This is one of the variations of Zamboni dry batteries. It was designed in 1896 by F. Dolezalek and W. Nernst within their researches on a new model of quadrant electrometer. Dolezalek and Nernst modified the so called “gold” and “silver” paper discs, i.e. the copper-tin element that was used in those years in dry batteries, by substituting the copper with lead peroxide, which also served as depolarizer. They prepared the discs by covering the reverse of the silver paper (covered with tin) with a thin layer of lead peroxide obtained through electrolysis. According to them, they thus achieved batteries 20 to 30 times more powerful. Dolezalek and Nernst’s improvement reminds of the substitution of copper with manganese peroxide introduced by Zamboni himself in the early 19^th century. Such a modification seems to have been forgotten, in Germany at least.

The battery is suspended to a vertical rod mounted on a cast iron support.

Materials and techniques: cast iron/nickel-plated brass/paper/tin/ lead peroxide

Dimensions: height 32 cm, width 11 cm, depth 10 cm

Keywords: electricity, electromagnetism, electrodynamics

University of Padua, Museum of the History of Physics

Cat. Number: 628

Exhibitions

• "Bagliori nel vuoto. Dall'uovo elettrico ai raggi X: elettricità e pneumatica dal Seicento ad oggi", Padua, Botanical garden, 1 February-30 June 2004

Bibliography

• Friedrich Dolezalek e Walther Hermann Nernst, Eine neue Form des Quadrantenelektrometers, "Zeitschrift für den physikalischen und chemischen Unterricht", X Jahrgang, 1897