62 Electrochemical Bonding
In 1799, Italian Alessandro Volta invented the battery and created the world’s first
man-made electrical current. By 1803, Davy had talked Beddoes into building a giant “Voltaic Pile” (battery) with 110 double plates to provide more power.
Davy turned his full attention to experimenting with batteries. He tried different metals
and even charcoal for the two electrodes in his battery and experimented with different liquids (water, acids, etc.) for the liquid (called an electrolyte) that filled the space around the
battery’s plates.
In 1805 Davy noticed that a zinc electrode oxidized while the battery was connected.
That was a chemical reaction taking place in the presence of an electrical current. Then he
noticed other chemical reactions taking place on other electrodes. Davy realized that the
battery (electric current) was causing chemical reactions to happen.
As he experimented with other electrodes, Davy began to realize the electrical nature
of chemical reactions. He tried a wide variety of materials for the two electrodes and different liquids for the electrolyte.
In a grand demonstration in 1806, Davy passed a strong electric current through pure
water and showed that he produced only two gasses—hydrogen and oxygen. Water molecules had been torn apart by an electric current. This demonstration showed that an electrical force could tear apart chemical bonds. To Davy this meant that the original chemical
bonds had to be electrical in nature or an electric current couldn’t have ripped them apart.
Davy had discovered the basic nature of chemical bonding. Chemical bonds were
somehow electrical. This discovery radically changed the way scientists viewed the formation of molecules and chemical bonds.
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