Unit 13: Batteries and Other Sources of Electricity

Vocabulary flashcards covering the history of the battery and foundational electrical concepts from Unit 13.

Alternator

A large rotating machine that produces most of the electric power in the world.

Luigi Galvani

An anatomist who in 1791 conducted experiments with dissected frog legs suspended by copper wire, observing twitching when touched by an iron scalpel, marking the first recorded incident of electricity produced by chemical action.

Alessandro Volta

A scientist who in 1800 concluded that electricity in Galvani's experiment was produced by chemical action between copper, iron, and salt solution, leading him to produce the first practical battery.

Voltaic pile

The first practical battery, constructed by Alessandro Volta using zinc and silver discs separated by cardboard soaked in brine (saltwater).

Cell

An individual electrical unit that produces a certain amount of voltage depending on the materials used to make it.

Battery

A combination of several individual cells connected together, though the term is often used in reference to a single cell.