Collection

Part of voltaic cell

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This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

Part of voltaic cell used by James Joule, c.1840..This electric cell was used by the scientist James Joule for
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Part of voltaic cell used by James Joule, c.1840. This electric cell was used by the scientist James Joule for
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Part of voltaic cell used by James Joule, c.1840.

This electric cell was used by the scientist James Joule for experiments about energy. Joule was a Salford resident and the son of a brewer. He was taught by the famous scientist John Dalton. Joule's experiments in 1845 led him to an new understanding of energy conversion.

Research by Joule showed that electricity, mechanical work and heat are all the same thing - forms of energy. He used equipment like this to learn that forms of energy are interchangeable and that energy cannot be created or destroyed. Joule is remembered as one of the founders of modern physics. From 1948 the Joule became a standard international unit of energy measurement.

Electric cells joined together become a battery. When Joule used this cell, electricity was at an early experiemental stage and was not yet a commercial technology.

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Details

Category:: Scientific Instruments & Research

Object Number:: Y1969.5.26

Materials:: copper (metal), wood (unidentified) and zinc (metal)

type:: primary electric cell

credit:: Gift of University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology

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