The Baghdad Battery or Parthian Battery is a set of three artifacts found together: a ceramic pot, copper tube, and iron rod. It was found in modern Khujut Wednesday, Iraq, close to the metropolis of Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian (150 BC - 223 AD) and Sasanian (224-650 AD) empire, and is considered the date of one of these periods.
The origin and purpose remains unclear, and further evidence is needed to clarify its purpose. It was hypothesized by some researchers that the object serves as a galvanic cell, probably used for electroplating, or some type of electrotherapy, but no known synthesized object from this period. An alternative explanation is that it serves as a storage container for sacred scrolls.
Video Baghdad Battery
Description and physical dating
The artifact consists of terracotta pots as high as approximately 130 mm (5 inches) (with a mouth of one and a half inches) containing a cylinder made of rolled copper sheets, which overshadow a single iron rod. At the top, the iron rods are insulated from copper by asphalt, with a plug or plug, and both rod and cylinder fitted inside the tube opening. The copper cylinder is not water-resistant, so if the tube is filled with liquid, it will surround the iron rod as well. The artifacts have been exposed to the weather and are corroded.
KÃÆ'¶nig thinks these objects may have been from the Parthian period, between 250 BC and 224 AD, but according to St. John Simpson of the Near Eastern Department of the British Museum, the original excavations and contexts are not well recorded, and the evidence for this date range is very weak. Furthermore, the pottery style is Sassanid (224-640).
Most components of the objects are not so able to accept advanced dating methods. Ceramic pots can be analyzed with thermoluminescence dating, but this has not been done; in any case, it will only date the firing of the pot, which is not necessarily of a complete artifact.
Maps Baghdad Battery
Theories about operations
Wilhelm KÃÆ'¶nig was an assistant at the National Museum of Iraq in the 1930s. He has observed a number of very fine silver objects from ancient Iraq, coated with a very thin layer of gold, and speculates that they are adapted. In 1938 he wrote a paper that offered the hypothesis that they might have formed a galvanic cell, which might be used to gild gold to silver objects. This interpretation is rejected by a skeptic.
Some believe that wine, lemon juice, grape juice, or vinegar is used as an acid electrolyte solution to generate an electric current from the difference between the electrode potential of the copper and iron electrodes.
Supporting experiments
After the Second World War, a man named Willard Gray showed current production with a reconstruction of battery design that was inferred when filled with grape juice. W. Jansen experimented with benzoquinone (some beetles produce quinones) and vinegar in cells and got a satisfactory performance.
In 1978, Arne Eggebrecht reportedly produced gold electroplating onto a small statue. There are no written records or photos (direct) of this experiment. The only record is the segment of the television show.
Usage controversy
Battery hypothesis
Artifacts do not form a useful battery for several reasons:
- Gas evolved in iron/copper/electrolyte junction. The bubble forms a partial insulation of the electrode. Thus the reduced battery function is increasingly used.
- Although multiple volts can be produced by connecting the battery in series, the voltage generated by the iron/copper/electrolyte cell is below 1 volt.
Electroplating hypothesis
KÃÆ'¶nig itself seems to be wrong on the nature of objects that are thought to be gilded. They are apparently fire-plated (with mercury). Paul Craddock of the British Museum said "The examples we see from this region and era are conventional gold plating and mercury plating." There has never been any denied evidence to support electroplating theory.
David A. Scott, senior scientist at the Getty Conservation Institute and head of the Museum's Research Laboratory, writes that "There is a natural tendency for writers dealing with chemical technology to imagine these unique ancient objects two thousand years ago as electroplating accessories (Foley ), 1977), but this is clearly untenable, because there is absolutely no evidence for electroplating in this region at that time. "
Paul T. Keyser of the University of Alberta noted that Eggebrecht uses more efficient modern electrolytes, and uses only vinegar, or other electrolytes available at the time assumed, the battery will be very weak, and for that and other reasons concluded that even if this turns out to be a battery, it can not be used for electroplating. However, Keyser still supports the battery theory, but believes it is used for some types of lightweight electrotherapy such as pain relievers, possibly through electroacupuncture.
Bitumen as an isolator
The bitumen seal, which becomes thermoplastic, will be very uncomfortable for galvanic cells, which will require frequent electrolyte addition (if intended for longer use).
Alternative hypothesis
Artifacts are very similar to other types of objects with a known purpose - storage of vessels for the sacred scrolls of the nearby Seleucia on the Tigris. Since these vessels are exposed to the elements, it is possible that the papyrus or parchment in them has completely decomposed, possibly leaving traces of slightly acidic organic residues. Although the Seleucid ships do not have the outer jars, they are almost identical.
The object was looted along with thousands of other artifacts from the National Museum during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
In March 2012, Professor Elizabeth Stone of Stony Brook University, an Iraqi archeologist, who returned from Iraq's first archeological expedition after 20 years, stated that he did not know of a single archaeologist who believed that this was a battery.
In media
The idea that terracotta jars in certain circumstances can be used to produce a testable level of electricity usage at least twice. In the third episode of the British television series 1980 Arthur C. Clarke Mysterious World, Egyptologist Arne Eggebrecht invented a voltaic cell using a jar filled with grape juice, to produce a half-volt of electricity, demonstrating for the program that the jars were used with this way can gild silver plate in two hours, using cyanide gold solution. Eggebrecht speculated that the museum could contain many misconceptions as gold when they were only gilded.
The Discovery Channel program MythBusters builds replica urns to see if it is indeed possible for them to be used for electroplating or electrostimulation. In the episode of MythBusters ' 29 (March 23, 2005), ten hand-made terra-cotta terracotta are installed to act as batteries. Lemon juice is selected as an electrolyte to activate electrochemical reactions between copper and iron. Connected in series, the battery produces 4 volts of electricity. When connected in series, the cells have sufficient power to grip small electric.
Archaeologist Ken Feder commented that there is no archaeological evidence found for connection between jars (required to produce the required voltage) or for their use for electroplating. In fact, the coating of an era in which the battery is claimed to have been used, has been found to be a gold-fire (with mercury).
See also
- Light flag
- Coso artefacts - misinterpreted by some as spark plugs 500,000 years old
- Battery history
- List of topics that are characterized as pseudoscience
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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