Baghdad battery: description, purpose, application and interesting facts

If the modern city is turned off for at least an hour from electricity, then it inevitably there will be a situation, for which the softest word will be a collapse. And this is inevitable, to such an extent electricity has become part of everyday life. Involuntarily the question arises: how did our ancestors for millennia do without this kind of energy? Were they completely deprived of its potential? That's the question the researchers do not have an unambiguous answer.

Find in the suburb of Baghdad

It is generally believed that mankind became acquainted with electric current only in the second half of the 18th century, and this was due to two irrepressible Italians who dedicated their lives to the study of physical phenomena - Luigi Galvani and his successor Alexander Volta. It is thanks to these people that today they run along the rails of the electric train, the light in our houses lights up, the puncher starts rumbling at the late hour.

However, this unquestionable truth was shaken by a discovery made in 1936 by the Austrian archaeologist Wilhelm Koening in the outskirts of Baghdad and named Baghdad battery. History is silent about whether the researcher himself was digging in the ground, or simply bought an artifact from local "black archaeologists". The latter even seems more likely, since otherwise some curious things could be discovered, but the world only learned about one unique find.

What is a Baghdad battery?

Thanks to Wilhelm Koening, mankind acquired an amazing artifact that looked like an ancient ceramic vessel of sand color, whose height did not exceed fifteen centimeters, and the age, apparently, was equal to two millennia. The neck of the find was sealed with a resin stopper, over which were visible the remains of a metal rod protruding from it, which for a long time was almost completely destroyed by corrosion.

Removing the resin plug and looking inside, the researchers found there a thin copper sheet, rolled up by a tube. Its length was nine centimeters, and the diameter was twenty-five millimeters. It was through him that a metal rod was missed, the bottom end did not reach the bottom, but the upper one came out. But the strangest thing was that the entire structure was kept in the air, securely insulated with resin, which covered the bottom of the vessel and clogged the neck.

How could this thing work?

Now the question is to all those who have faithfully attended physics lessons: what does it look like? Wilhelm Koenning found an answer to it, because he was not from among the truants - it's a galvanic element for getting electricity, or, more simply, a Baghdad battery!

No matter how crazy this idea might seem, it was difficult to challenge. It is enough to conduct a simple experience. It is necessary to fill the vessel with electrolyte, which may well suit grape or lemon juice, as well as vinegar, well known in ancient times.

Since the solution will completely cover not touching each other, a metal rod and a copper tube, a potential difference will arise between them and an electric current will inevitably appear. All the doubters are referred to the physics textbook for the eighth grade.

The current is really going, well, then?

After that, the ancient electrician had only to make sure that the Baghdad battery was connected by wires to some suitable consumer of energy - say, a floor lamp made of papyrus leaves. However, it could be a simple street lamp.

Anticipating the skeptics' objections that at least one light bulb is needed for any lighting device, we will present the arguments of supporters of this seemingly fantastic idea and find out if people who lived long before our era could create an incandescent lamp without which the ancient Did the Baghdad battery lose all meaning?

How could a light bulb made in Ancient Egypt look like?

It turns out that this is not impossible, at least with glass problems they should not have been, because, according to science, it was invented five thousand years ago by the ancient Egyptians. It is known that long before the appearance of the pyramids, on the banks of the Nile, heating a mixture of sand, soda ash and lime to high temperatures, began to obtain a vitreous mass. Despite the fact that initially its transparency left much to be desired, with time, and its BC was sufficient, the process was perfected, and as a result, glass was obtained that was close to its modern form.

The situation with the filament is more complicated, but even here the optimists do not surrender. As the main argument, they give a mysterious figure, found on the wall of the Egyptian tomb (photo from it is given in our article). On it an ancient artist painted an object very similar to a modern lamp, inside of which there is clearly visible something resembling this very thread. Even greater credibility is given by the image of the cord, led to the lamp.

If not a lamp, then what?

The optimists answer the objections of the skeptics: "We agree that the picture may not show a light bulb, but a fruit grown by ancient Michurinians, but how, then, why there were no traces of soot from oil lamps on the ceilings of the rooms where the masters painted the walls Torches? Because there were no windows in the pyramids, and sunlight did not penetrate them, and it's impossible to work in total darkness. "

Hence, there was some source of light unknown to us. However, even if the ancients did not have any light bulbs, this does not mean that the Baghdad battery described above could not be used for any other purpose.

Another interesting hypothesis

In ancient Iran, in whose territory a sensational find was made, copper pottery, covered with a thin layer of silver or gold, was often used. From this, it has won from an aesthetic point of view and has become more environmentally friendly, since noble metals have the property of killing microbes. But it is possible to apply such a coating only electrolytically. Only it gives the product a perfect look.

This hypothesis was undertaken by the German Egyptologist Egyptian scientist Arne Eggebrecht. Making ten vessels, exactly the same as a Baghdad battery, and filling them with salt solution of gold, he managed to cover for several hours a smooth layer of precious metal specially designed for the experience of a copper statuette of Osiris.

Arguments of skeptics

However, for the sake of justice, it is necessary to listen to arguments and the opposite side - those who consider the electrification of the Ancient World as the invention of idle dreamers. In their arsenal there are, mainly, three weighty arguments.

First of all, they quite reasonably notice that if the Baghdad battery was really a galvanic cell, then it was necessary to periodically add electrolyte, and the design, in which the neck was filled with resin, did not allow it. Thus, the battery became a disposable device, which in itself is unlikely.

In addition, skeptics point out that if the Baghdad battery is really a device for obtaining electricity, then among the finds of archaeologists, inevitable must have been encountered all sorts of accompanying attributes, such as wires, conductors and so on. In reality, nothing of the kind could be found.

And, finally, the strongest argument can be considered an indication that so far in the monuments of ancient writing there was no mention of the use of any electrical appliances, which would be inevitable when they are used massively. Their images are also missing. The only exception is the ancient Egyptian figure, which was described above, but it has no unambiguous interpretation.

So what is it?

So for what purpose was the Baghdad battery created? The opponents of the electric theory explain the purpose of this intriguing artifact in an extremely prosaic way. In their opinion, it served only as a storage place for ancient papyrus or parchment scrolls.

In their statement, they rely on the fact that in times immemorial, the scrolls were indeed accepted to be stored in clay or ceramic vessels similar to this, though not sealing the mouth with resin and not winding them on metal rods. The appointment of the same copper tube, they are not at all able to explain. The fate of the scroll itself, allegedly kept inside, is also not clear. He could not have rotted so much that he left no traces behind him.

Artifact that did not want to reveal its secret

Alas, the secrets of the Baghdad battery still remain unsolved. As a result of the experiments, it was possible to establish that a device of this design is indeed capable of producing a current of one and a half volts, but this does not at all prove that Wilhelm Koening's finding was used in this way. There are very few supporters of the electric theory, because it contradicts the official data of science, and anyone who encroaches on them risks running around as a ignoramus and a charlatan.