1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:19,000 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer at I Heart Radio 4 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:21,760 Speaker 1: and How the Tech Are Young. I'm starting a new 5 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 1: kind of tech stuff episode today, sort of within the 6 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 1: Tech Stuff Tidbits overall umbrella, and I'm doing a quick 7 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:35,159 Speaker 1: profile on someone who made significant contributions to tech and 8 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:37,840 Speaker 1: science in general. And I thought I would start off 9 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: with Conte Alessandro Giusippe Antonio Anastasio Volta, or Alessandro Volta 10 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 1: for short. He was an incredibly important physicist and technologist 11 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: in a time when science was really just starting to 12 00:00:55,560 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: take shape. He was born in seventeen, which puts his 13 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: uh maturation within the Age of Enlightenment. So this was 14 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:11,320 Speaker 1: a period that followed the Renaissance, and it saw society 15 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:15,280 Speaker 1: start to turn away from long traditions and embrace more 16 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 1: experimentation and reason. Now I don't mean to say it 17 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: was all rationality and egalitarianism, of course, because there was 18 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 1: a a lot of horrible stuff that happened in the 19 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:30,399 Speaker 1: seventeen and eighteen and into the early nineteenth centuries. But 20 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:34,199 Speaker 1: this would be when the modern world would start to 21 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:38,479 Speaker 1: take shape, and we moved away from the the world 22 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:41,640 Speaker 1: of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and into the 23 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 1: modern era. Volta was born in seventeen forty five, as 24 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: I mentioned, and his parents were noble, but not not 25 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 1: terribly wealthy, but aristocrats certainly. There was a Filippo Volta, 26 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: his father who died when Alessandro was a teenager, and 27 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: then his mother, Donna Maria Madelena Volta. They had four children, 28 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:11,680 Speaker 1: including Alessandro Volta, and his parents his family in general, 29 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:16,120 Speaker 1: had some high hopes for Alessandro once he grew up 30 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: a little bit. They they kind of wanted him to 31 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 1: become a lawyer. Now. As a child, Alessandro was sent 32 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 1: to live in the household of Ludovico Monty, and Monty 33 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: was a barometer maker, so he made tools that could 34 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: measure atmospheric pressure. Now. According to biographies, Volta's family worried 35 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 1: that Alessandro might have some problems because he didn't start 36 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:47,640 Speaker 1: speaking the around the same time that most children do. 37 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: He was non verbal, uh fairly late into his childhood. 38 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: In fact, according to one biography I read, he only 39 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: became you know, talkative when he hit the of seven 40 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: or so, though it's entirely possible he just didn't have 41 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 1: much to say. Around the same time that he started talking, 42 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: he also developed a keen interest in natural sciences, really 43 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: just a insatiable curiosity about the world and how it worked. 44 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: So he was really eager to observe and to experiment. 45 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: He attended private school and at age thirteen he was 46 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 1: then enrolled in the School of the Jesuit Fathers in Como, Italy. 47 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:35,240 Speaker 1: His own father actually passed away while Volta was attending 48 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 1: this school, so then his uncle, also named Alessandro, would 49 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: send him to the Royal Seminary in Como. Now at 50 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:46,960 Speaker 1: this stage this was where his family was really hoping 51 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: he would study law. Meanwhile, his lead instructor at the 52 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: Royal Seminary was really hoping to snag Alessandro for the priesthood. 53 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: But at this point Volta was determined to become a scientist, 54 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 1: and he dove into studies revolving around chemistry and physics, 55 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 1: and was particularly fascinated with the study of electricity and 56 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: electrostatic charges. Before he was twenty, he was designing electro 57 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 1: static experiments. He was helped by the fact that a 58 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: childhood friend of his had constructed a laboratory and gave 59 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 1: Alessandro access to it. So Volta must have had a 60 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: pretty high opinion of himself around this time, because at 61 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:35,359 Speaker 1: the ripe old age of twenty four he wrote his 62 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:39,040 Speaker 1: first memoir, like come on, you don't have enough memories 63 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: to fill a memoir when you're twenty four. Anyway, Volta 64 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 1: was in contact with other scientists of the era. He 65 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:49,280 Speaker 1: was always eager to share what he had learned and 66 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: find out what other people had learned, so it was 67 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:56,359 Speaker 1: really collaborative environment in the scientific field of the time. 68 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:01,039 Speaker 1: In seventeen seventy four he became professor sort of physics 69 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:04,479 Speaker 1: at the Royal School of Como, and the following year, 70 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: in seventy five, he took a little invention created by 71 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 1: Johann carl Wick or vic a decade earlier, and it 72 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: was called the electro for us and Volta made some 73 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: improvements to this basic invention, and as the name of 74 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:24,720 Speaker 1: the device implies, it has something to do with electricity, 75 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:30,840 Speaker 1: specifically electrostatic charge. Okay, let's talk about electrostatic charge and 76 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 1: what this device actually did, because we have to remember 77 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:37,719 Speaker 1: that in the early days of experimentation with electricity, one 78 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 1: of the few ways that you could actually generate any 79 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:45,039 Speaker 1: kind of electrical output at all was through electrostatic charges. 80 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,800 Speaker 1: So the way that this device worked went like this. 81 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: You would start off with a plate made out of 82 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: some sort of material like wax or pitch or resin, 83 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:00,920 Speaker 1: and this would serve as a dielectric late. So a 84 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:05,919 Speaker 1: dielectric medium is an electrical insulator, so it doesn't allow 85 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: electricity to flow through it. It doesn't have enough free 86 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 1: electrons to allow for that. However, with a dielectric medium, 87 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:19,560 Speaker 1: if you expose that kind of material to an electric field, 88 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: the field will cause the medium to become polarized. That is, 89 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,400 Speaker 1: one side of the material will have one type of 90 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:30,920 Speaker 1: electric charge to it, and the opposite side of that 91 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,719 Speaker 1: material will have the opposite electric charge to it. You 92 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: can think of it as the positive charge migrates to 93 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:40,919 Speaker 1: one side the negative charge migrates to the other side. 94 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:45,480 Speaker 1: But collectively, if you look at the piece as a whole, 95 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: it as an electrically neutral charge. It's just that the 96 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: individual charges have migrated to the edges as opposed to 97 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: just being kind of all mixed in together. So with 98 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 1: an electro for us. You take this die electric plate 99 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:03,520 Speaker 1: of resin or wax or whatever, and then you rub 100 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:07,279 Speaker 1: it with cloth or fur, and that's what starts to 101 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:12,440 Speaker 1: cause this polarization within the plate itself. Then on top 102 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 1: of this die electric plate you put a metal plate, 103 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 1: so it's like you're putting a metal disk on top 104 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:25,960 Speaker 1: of a larger cake of this wax material or whatever 105 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 1: that you've already rubbed down with cloth or fur. Attached 106 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:31,400 Speaker 1: to the top side of the metal plate is a 107 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:36,200 Speaker 1: handle that's insulated so you don't accidentally discharge the electrophorest prematurely. 108 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: And when you put the metal plate on this dielectric base, 109 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:46,000 Speaker 1: you also polarize the metal plate, which is unusual, like 110 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: typically you would have the charge move to the metal plate, 111 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: but because at a microscopic level, the plate is not 112 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:59,840 Speaker 1: making enough contact with the dielectric plate underneath. Instead you 113 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: have this polarization. So again, the metal plate has charges 114 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: separate to either side of the metal plate. So let's 115 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:13,640 Speaker 1: say that the uh the the top side of the 116 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 1: dielectric plate is of a negative charge, Well, that would 117 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:24,440 Speaker 1: mean that the positive charge within the metal plate would 118 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: migrate down to it. Because opposites attract and it would 119 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:30,600 Speaker 1: mean that the negative charge of the electric of the 120 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:34,080 Speaker 1: metal plate rather would migrate to the top side, the 121 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:38,160 Speaker 1: side where the handle is. And so you've got this 122 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: plate now that has the charges that are polarized, but 123 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 1: the plate itself still as a system, has a net 124 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:52,280 Speaker 1: neutral charge. Then you ground the plate, you allow the 125 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: charge that has accumulated on the top of the plate 126 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:00,959 Speaker 1: to discharge. You probably do this just by touching it. 127 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:04,040 Speaker 1: You become the ground like you might hold the handle 128 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: in one hand and touch the surface of the plate 129 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 1: and the other and this allows the charge that has 130 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:14,000 Speaker 1: accumulated on the top of the plate to discharge. However, 131 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: now what this means is that the metal plate actually 132 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:19,600 Speaker 1: does have a net charge, and that positive charge in 133 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 1: this case because you allowed that negative charge the head 134 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 1: accumulated on the top surface to go away, but the 135 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:30,280 Speaker 1: net positive charge that's on the other surface is still there. 136 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: So if you lift it with that insulated handle, so 137 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 1: now the charge is nowhere to go. What you have 138 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 1: is a metal plate that has a net positive charge 139 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:41,840 Speaker 1: on it, which you can then use for your various 140 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:45,280 Speaker 1: electro static experiments. So really this was a way of 141 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:49,920 Speaker 1: holding an electro static charge so that you could do 142 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:52,800 Speaker 1: something else with it, and it was a very important 143 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:56,840 Speaker 1: tool for those early experiments. Pretty cool, and it makes 144 00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: sense that Volta did this right because he was interested 145 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:05,280 Speaker 1: in electrostatic experiments, and so he had an incentive to 146 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 1: make the instruments he relied upon easier to use and 147 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:13,000 Speaker 1: more reliable. All that being said, I am sure there 148 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 1: are documents out there that explain exactly what improvements Volta 149 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:21,560 Speaker 1: introduced to this basic device, but I didn't find them 150 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 1: when I was looking in my research. But knowing that 151 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,480 Speaker 1: Volta had this keen interest in electricity and electrostatic charges, 152 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:31,240 Speaker 1: makes sense that he would try to improve those devices. 153 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:34,080 Speaker 1: I just don't know what it was he did that 154 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:37,079 Speaker 1: made it better. I do know that it had already existed. 155 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:41,200 Speaker 1: So while some people have credited Volta with creating the 156 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:43,960 Speaker 1: electrode for us, the truth of the matter is is 157 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:48,839 Speaker 1: that device pre existed Volta's work in the field. Okay, 158 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:51,080 Speaker 1: I've got a lot more to say about Volta before 159 00:10:51,120 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 1: we get to any of that. Let's take a quick break. Okay, So, 160 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:10,240 Speaker 1: around the time that Volta was starting to experiment with 161 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 1: electro static charges and to improve the electro forests, he 162 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:19,960 Speaker 1: was also interested in bubbles. No tiny bubbles in the wine. 163 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:24,280 Speaker 1: No wait, I'm sorry that was someone else. No, he 164 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:27,600 Speaker 1: was interested in bubbles that were rising to the surface 165 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:31,720 Speaker 1: of Lake Maggiore in uh specifically in a marsh area 166 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:36,680 Speaker 1: around the lake called Iselina Patta Gora. And the lake 167 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:41,040 Speaker 1: is huge. It's partly in Switzerland, it's mostly in Italy. 168 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:43,559 Speaker 1: It's on the south side of the Alps mountain range. 169 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 1: And Volta was visiting a friend and while wandering around 170 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: the marsh saw these bubbles popping up, and he wondered 171 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:54,800 Speaker 1: what was causing it. So he got some bottles and 172 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:57,200 Speaker 1: he was able to capture some of the escaping gas, 173 00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:01,200 Speaker 1: and in experiments he learned that the gas was flammable 174 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,520 Speaker 1: or inflammable, because that means the same thing, and it 175 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:07,920 Speaker 1: shows that English is a dumb language. The gas had 176 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:11,120 Speaker 1: no color, it had no odor, but it could catch 177 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 1: fire and it turned out to be methane. So Volta 178 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: became the first scientist to isolate methane. And Volta also 179 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:23,280 Speaker 1: invented a device to demonstrate how gas can be flammable. 180 00:12:23,559 --> 00:12:27,920 Speaker 1: And this was a really interesting thing that I bet 181 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,720 Speaker 1: was really cool to see demonstrated and also more than 182 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:34,960 Speaker 1: a little scary. So what he did was he created 183 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:38,280 Speaker 1: a metal container, so it has a hole on the 184 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:41,040 Speaker 1: top of it which can be corked, and it has 185 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:45,199 Speaker 1: a hole on the side of it which is insulated 186 00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:49,480 Speaker 1: by a ring of glass. So the metal around the 187 00:12:49,559 --> 00:12:52,400 Speaker 1: little hole on the side is covered in glass to 188 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:55,920 Speaker 1: keep it insulated. What you would do is you would 189 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 1: insert a brass rod into the side hole so that 190 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 1: the end of the brass rod is close to, but 191 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:07,760 Speaker 1: not touching, the interior wall of this metal canister. Through 192 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:11,000 Speaker 1: the top hole, you would introduce oxygen as well as 193 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:16,760 Speaker 1: whatever gas you plan to test, like methane, and you 194 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:20,360 Speaker 1: would then cork up the container so now the gas 195 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:23,040 Speaker 1: can't escape. The brass rod is in that hole in 196 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:26,320 Speaker 1: the side. And then what you do is you would 197 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:30,360 Speaker 1: create an electrostatic generator to create an electrostatic charge. You 198 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:36,120 Speaker 1: would bring the entire metal canister, rod and all over 199 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:39,480 Speaker 1: to the electrostatic generator and you would bring the rod 200 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 1: into contact with the generator. So the generator then discharges 201 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:48,480 Speaker 1: its electrostatic charge into the brass rod. Because the end 202 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:50,640 Speaker 1: of the other end of the brass rod is close 203 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:55,320 Speaker 1: to the interior metal wall but not quite touching it. 204 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:59,320 Speaker 1: It would allow a spark to generate between the end 205 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:02,400 Speaker 1: of the brass odd and the interior of this metal container. 206 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 1: That spark would ignite this mixture of gas inside the 207 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:10,559 Speaker 1: container that would create an explosion that would be strong 208 00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 1: enough to force the cork on the top of the container. 209 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:18,080 Speaker 1: So Volta had created an exploding gas powered cork gun. 210 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:22,800 Speaker 1: The popular name for this device is Volta's pistol, and 211 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,560 Speaker 1: you could argue that this early experiment kind of laid 212 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 1: the groundwork for the internal combustion engine. Later on, in 213 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy eight, the University of pavia named Volta the 214 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:38,880 Speaker 1: Chair of Experimental Physics. But by seventeen eighty one he 215 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 1: must have had itchy feet, because he started to travel 216 00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:46,160 Speaker 1: across Europe, learning and teaching and making friends along the way. 217 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 1: The University of Pavio wasn't done with him either. It 218 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:52,360 Speaker 1: elected him dean for seventeen eighty five to seventeen eighty six, 219 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:56,040 Speaker 1: and he would teach there off and on until eighteen nineteen. 220 00:14:56,640 --> 00:15:00,360 Speaker 1: One of the friends that Volta made in his many 221 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:04,480 Speaker 1: travels and discussions in the scientific field was another scientist 222 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:08,680 Speaker 1: by the name of Luigi Galvani, and it was Galvani 223 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: who discovered, while experimenting with muscle tissue that if he 224 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:21,080 Speaker 1: put two metal pieces in contact with a skinned frog's leg, 225 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:25,560 Speaker 1: it would induce an electric current and the leg would twitch, 226 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:30,720 Speaker 1: something that Volta would call the galvanic response. This discovery 227 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: actually led to a pretty heated professional disagreement between Galvanni 228 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 1: and his buddy Volta, because Galvanni thought that the electricity 229 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 1: that was responsible for this movement was within the muscle itself, 230 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:49,480 Speaker 1: that that was the source of the electricity. He called 231 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: it animal electricity. Volta disagreed. He thought the muscle had 232 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 1: really just acted as an electrical conductor between the two 233 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:02,000 Speaker 1: metal points of contact, and he called it metallic electricity, 234 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:07,200 Speaker 1: especially when Volta was thinking about using different types of metal, 235 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 1: not two of the same kind, but two different types 236 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:14,080 Speaker 1: of metal that you could create electric current between the two. Now, 237 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 1: this disagreement led Volta to start experimenting with different metals 238 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,880 Speaker 1: as he tried to determine if by combining them you 239 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:25,800 Speaker 1: could create an electrical current. By bringing them into contact 240 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:29,200 Speaker 1: with one another, you could induce current to flow between them, 241 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:32,800 Speaker 1: and by jove, he did it. Through all of this, 242 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:38,200 Speaker 1: there was this really dramatic feud between the proponents of 243 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 1: the animal electricity hypothesis and the metallic electricity advocates as well. 244 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:49,040 Speaker 1: It got ugly like there were some pretty heated disagreements 245 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: in the scientific community around this time about which of 246 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:57,920 Speaker 1: the two hypotheses was correct. Volta ultimately was able to 247 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:01,000 Speaker 1: show that there was no need for animal tissue in 248 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 1: order to create a current between two different pieces of metal. 249 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:07,560 Speaker 1: He used some cloth or some cardboard that have been 250 00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:10,520 Speaker 1: soaked in brine and showed that you can still get 251 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:12,800 Speaker 1: current to pass through, saying, well, you know, there's nothing 252 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:17,560 Speaker 1: here that was part of an animal, so your hypothesis 253 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:21,639 Speaker 1: that electricity is part and parcel with the concept of 254 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:25,080 Speaker 1: living organisms is not necessarily correct. Now, of course we 255 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:29,480 Speaker 1: know that stuff like like muscular movements are made through 256 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:35,160 Speaker 1: electrochemical signals in our brains, but that wasn't exactly what 257 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 1: Galvanni was saying at the time. So you could argue 258 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:41,879 Speaker 1: that both of them were right to different degrees. But 259 00:17:42,119 --> 00:17:46,280 Speaker 1: what Volta demonstrated was that you didn't need the organic tissue, 260 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:50,879 Speaker 1: uh right there, in order to conduct electricity. You just 261 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:57,320 Speaker 1: needed something that could serve as a conduit. Now we'll 262 00:17:57,359 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 1: take a short break from his science experimentation to deal 263 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:07,439 Speaker 1: with matters of the heart. In seventeen, Alessandro Volta married 264 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 1: Maria Teresa Alonza Peregrini, and the couple would ultimately have 265 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:16,520 Speaker 1: three children together. Now I wish I could tell you 266 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:20,960 Speaker 1: a lot more about Maria, but sadly the historical records 267 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:25,159 Speaker 1: are scarce. I don't even have a birthday, nor do 268 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:28,439 Speaker 1: I have the date when she died. The only records 269 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:31,040 Speaker 1: I could find listened to her as wife to Alessandro 270 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:36,800 Speaker 1: and mother to Zannino, Flaminio and Luigi. Or refrain from 271 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:41,560 Speaker 1: making further commentary on the matter. Volta continued his experiments 272 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: with metallic electricity, and in sevent announced that if you 273 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,560 Speaker 1: were to take a disc of a metal such as silver, 274 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:53,520 Speaker 1: and then you cover that disc with a material like 275 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:57,359 Speaker 1: cloth soaked in brine, and then you put on top 276 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:00,480 Speaker 1: of that cloth soaked in brian another mata like disc, 277 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:02,919 Speaker 1: but at this time of a different metal like zinc, 278 00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:07,560 Speaker 1: that collectively this would generate an electric current, and if 279 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: you attached a wire to it, current would flow from 280 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 1: one end of this little stack to the other. In 281 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:18,120 Speaker 1: eight hundred he would build a full stack of discs 282 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:23,160 Speaker 1: alternating between copper and pewter, or maybe silver and zinc. 283 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:28,000 Speaker 1: The records aren't clear, and he separated the different metallic 284 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:31,440 Speaker 1: discs with cloth or cardboard that had been soaked in brine. 285 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 1: And he showed that if you increase the number of disks, 286 00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 1: if you built the stack taller, you would also increase 287 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:43,280 Speaker 1: the electromotive force of the current. And he was the 288 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:48,320 Speaker 1: first to describe this as electromotive sort of the power 289 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: behind the current, not how much current there was, but 290 00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 1: how much there was to the current, and building a 291 00:19:56,359 --> 00:20:02,200 Speaker 1: taller stack made more. Ultimately, we would describe this invention 292 00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:05,720 Speaker 1: as the voltaic pile. And if you connected a wire 293 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:07,520 Speaker 1: from to the top of the pile to the bottom 294 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:10,000 Speaker 1: of the pile, you would complete the circuit and thus 295 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:12,880 Speaker 1: you would get current to flow. And yeah, the more 296 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:17,000 Speaker 1: discs you add, the more strength this current would have 297 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:21,400 Speaker 1: and this would become the basis of the electric battery, 298 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:26,359 Speaker 1: and that would change the world. All right, Well, finish 299 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:29,160 Speaker 1: up on our discussion about volta in just a moment, 300 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:40,840 Speaker 1: but first let's take another quick break. All right. Before 301 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:44,080 Speaker 1: the break, I mentioned that the invention of the battery 302 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:46,800 Speaker 1: would change the world, and it really did, and it 303 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:51,200 Speaker 1: continues to do so. But at the time, the invention 304 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:55,720 Speaker 1: of the battery became an enormous boon to science because 305 00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:59,920 Speaker 1: scientists no longer had to rely upon either electrostatic generator 306 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 1: or a laden jar. And I'll describe late in jars 307 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:06,720 Speaker 1: in a different episode. It gets a little too involved 308 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:09,080 Speaker 1: for us to jump in here, but it's kind of 309 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: like a capacitor. It releases all of its electricity in 310 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: one go. The voltaic pile became useful because you could 311 00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:20,919 Speaker 1: continuously generate current until it had expired and corroded to 312 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:23,720 Speaker 1: the point where it no longer would allow current to flow. 313 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:28,800 Speaker 1: So that meant that scientists had a way to generate 314 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:32,959 Speaker 1: electricity and conduct various experiments with it. And by building 315 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:37,000 Speaker 1: larger and larger piles, they could generate electricity with more 316 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:42,240 Speaker 1: behind it. And this meant that folks like Anthony Carlyle 317 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:47,879 Speaker 1: and William Nicholson could generate enough powerful electricity to discover 318 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:52,240 Speaker 1: electrolysis of water. This is when you use an electric 319 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:56,840 Speaker 1: charge of sufficient voltage. Kind of spoiling the end of this, 320 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,119 Speaker 1: but we all know where volt comes from, right anyway, 321 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:03,120 Speaker 1: It's when you use an electric charge of sufficient voltage 322 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:07,240 Speaker 1: to break the molecular bonds of water, which means that 323 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 1: when you have when you've introduced this electric current to water, 324 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:15,240 Speaker 1: it causes the water to become hydrogen and oxygen and 325 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:18,080 Speaker 1: converts into two gases. So this is one way where 326 00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:21,080 Speaker 1: you can harvest hydrogen right. One of the problems we 327 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:24,320 Speaker 1: have with hydrogen is that although it is the most 328 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 1: common element in the universe, it also bonds with other 329 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:33,680 Speaker 1: stuff and it's really hard to find hydrogen just by itself. 330 00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 1: Even though hydrogen is incredibly useful, it means that we 331 00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:40,400 Speaker 1: have to find ways to break it out of other 332 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:45,080 Speaker 1: molecular bonds, like with oxygen. So electrolysis is one way 333 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:48,480 Speaker 1: to do that. You pass this this charge through water 334 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:52,200 Speaker 1: and it causes those molecular bonds to break down and 335 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:56,120 Speaker 1: you can harvest hydrogen from it that way. So that 336 00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:00,720 Speaker 1: was a very important early use of voltaic piles back 337 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: in the early days of electricity. So this invention also 338 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,680 Speaker 1: meant that further discoveries would pour in from all parts 339 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,320 Speaker 1: of the world, and it was really important to physics 340 00:23:13,359 --> 00:23:17,240 Speaker 1: and to chemistry. We had multiple elements discovered in this 341 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:22,920 Speaker 1: period because scientists had access to experiments that could rely 342 00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:27,800 Speaker 1: upon a reliable source of electricity. So this was a 343 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:32,600 Speaker 1: huge boost in scientific knowledge. It's hard to overstate how 344 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:37,280 Speaker 1: important it was. Volta would end up becoming highly decorated 345 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:42,280 Speaker 1: for his contributions. He was united a couple of times, 346 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:46,760 Speaker 1: especially in France. He became a count in Italy, and 347 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:51,440 Speaker 1: Napoleon Bonaparte was particularly impressed by Volta's work. He ended 348 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:56,560 Speaker 1: up creating an honorary award that would reward significant achievements 349 00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:00,960 Speaker 1: in the field of science, specifically electrical science. He said 350 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 1: that if someone made a contribution on the level of 351 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:08,080 Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin or Alessandra Volta, they would be deserving of 352 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:11,920 Speaker 1: such an award. So Volta achieved great fame and success. 353 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,800 Speaker 1: He returned to the University of Pavia, and like I said, 354 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:18,800 Speaker 1: he would teach there until eighteen nineteen. Tragically, his son 355 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:22,359 Speaker 1: Flaminio died when he was just eighteen years old, and 356 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:27,000 Speaker 1: that devastated Alessandra Volta, and so he retired from teaching 357 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 1: in eighteen nineteen and from public life entirely. In eighteen twenty. 358 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,600 Speaker 1: He moved back to Como, where he grew up, and 359 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:36,399 Speaker 1: he lived out his final years there. He passed away 360 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:40,640 Speaker 1: when he was eighty two years old, and then decades later, 361 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:44,959 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty one, the scientific community decided that they 362 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:50,080 Speaker 1: would name a unit of electromotive force after this great scientist. 363 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:53,479 Speaker 1: That's why we call them volts. So voltage is a 364 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:57,119 Speaker 1: measure of electromotive force. And I often say, and a 365 00:24:57,160 --> 00:24:59,040 Speaker 1: lot of people do. It's not just me. In fact, 366 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:01,960 Speaker 1: I am not by far. I'm not the first person 367 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,359 Speaker 1: to say this, but I think of voltage kind of 368 00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:07,879 Speaker 1: like water pressure in a plumbing system. Like the amount 369 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:11,080 Speaker 1: of water in the system that's the current, but the 370 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:14,760 Speaker 1: amount of pressure behind it, that's the voltage. If we 371 00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:19,879 Speaker 1: were to create an analogy, so Alessandro Volta incredibly important, 372 00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:23,919 Speaker 1: really sticking it to his buddy Luigi Gavani, and I 373 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:25,920 Speaker 1: thought it would be good to do a quick profile, 374 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:28,359 Speaker 1: and I'll probably do more of these. There will be 375 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: other people who will deserve much longer episodes, not that 376 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:36,080 Speaker 1: Volta doesn't, but you know, I didn't want to dive 377 00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:41,080 Speaker 1: into things that would become irrelevant due to the fact 378 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:45,160 Speaker 1: that we have gone so far from his initial contributions. 379 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,560 Speaker 1: I just wanted to talk about the really intrinsic ones 380 00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:52,560 Speaker 1: that are important in tech today, but I'll probably do 381 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:54,880 Speaker 1: more of these in the future. That's the plan. Maybe 382 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:57,199 Speaker 1: I'll do one of Ben Franklin, although obviously I'll have 383 00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:02,040 Speaker 1: to focus primarily on his contributions to tech as opposed 384 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:05,399 Speaker 1: to everything else he's known for, because that dude was 385 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:08,160 Speaker 1: busy in more ways than one, as it turns out. 386 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:11,639 Speaker 1: And um, yeah, if you have people that you would 387 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:13,399 Speaker 1: like to suggest for me to do a profile on 388 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,040 Speaker 1: in the future, let me know. Like I said, if 389 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:18,680 Speaker 1: if it's someone who's done tons and tons and tons 390 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: of stuff and continues to do stuff, because obviously there 391 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:24,320 Speaker 1: are a lot of very influential people alive working in 392 00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:26,879 Speaker 1: tech right now, then I may be doing you know, 393 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:29,919 Speaker 1: much longer episodes or maybe even multi partners depending on 394 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,760 Speaker 1: the person. But I would love to hear your suggestions. 395 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:35,280 Speaker 1: You can reach out on Twitter. The handle for the 396 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,160 Speaker 1: show is tech Stuff hs W, or you can drop 397 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:40,640 Speaker 1: me a line by downloading the I Heart Radio app. 398 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 1: It is free to download and to use. You can 399 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:44,480 Speaker 1: navigate over to tech Stuff by putting it in a 400 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 1: little search bar. It'll pop right up. You'll see that 401 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:49,960 Speaker 1: on the tech Stuff page. There's a little microphone icon 402 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:51,680 Speaker 1: if you click on that you can leave a voice 403 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:53,560 Speaker 1: message up to thirty seconds in length. Let me know 404 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:55,600 Speaker 1: what you would like to hear, and I'll talk to 405 00:26:55,600 --> 00:27:04,639 Speaker 1: you again really soon. Y Text Stuff is an I 406 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:08,280 Speaker 1: heart Radio production. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 407 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,800 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 408 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:13,399 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.