Happy New Year Museum-Lers, Here is a post from TARIKH-L list. Any ideas? Does any of you know about the German museum mentioned in this posting? > From: Stan Sandler <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: ane Parthian batteries > Date: Friday, January 03, 1997 11:58 AM > > Hello All: > > I am a new member to this list. I am not an academic; I >am a dairy farmer and commercial beekeeper in Prince Edward Island, >Canada. > My interest and reason for writing is that a few years ago >my son did a science fair project asking the question of whether the >Parthians might have made dry cell batteries as some evidence >indicates, and what they might have used them for. This topic made >for a lot of interesting discussion and speculation in our farmhouse >and now that we can post a question using this wonderful tool to >experts in the field I am making use of it. My son made batteries >of the type that were found (iron and copper) and then did several >experiments using them for electroplating with substances that he >found listed in books that the Parthians would probably have had. > > For example, he found that there was a recipe for glass which had >been found on a Mesopotamian tablet and that verdigris (copper >acetate) was used to colour the glass. So he made copper acetate by >pickling copper (pennies) in vineagar and then electroplated with it. > He tried a few other substances and we also speculated that maybe >electricity was used to separate the gold and silver from electrum. > > The references he found were: Al-Haik, Albert; "The Rabbou'a >Galvanic Cell"; Sumer Vol 20; 103-104; 1964 > > Winton, W.; "Baghdad Batteries B.C" Sumer Vol 18; 87-89; 1964 > > Since the "batteries" were found in 1936, and apparently are housed in a > museum in Germany now, I assume that the lack of interest in this matter > means that the academic community either thinks they are a fraud or thinks they are not "batteries". > Please could someone comment on this. > Has anyone ever found any "plated" artifacts? Electroplating leaves a >very thin layer than is not nearly as durable as dip plating so the >absence of this does not necessarily rule out the possibility. > > We had a lot of fun thinking about how the discovery might have occurred. > It is not all that improbable. Thales of Miletus had already >experimented with static electricity. One would actually think that >electroplating would be one of the first things that electricity >would be noticed to "do". If a metalworker was cleaning different >metals in a container of vineagar (which works, try dropping a penny >in some) and the two metals touch outside the container (say a >bronze and an iron sword standing up with the hilts touching) then a >battery has been created. And inside the container the metalworker >might notice that one metal cleaned better when it was in contact >with another metal that is lower in the electrochemical series. > I originally posted this letter to ancien-l which I also joined with >little response. > I have looked a bit at the archives of ane (where I was directed) and >found the reference to Paul Keysers paper : The Purpose of the >Parthian Galvanic Cells: A first Century A.D. Electric Battery used >for Analgesia. It will take some time for me to get it but I >thought I might still post the question as I would need quite a bit >of convincing that the batteries were not used for metallurgy. > > Finally, I see from your archives that you are very sparing of bandwidth, > and so I apologize for the length of this post. > > Thanks, and Happy New Year > Stan > Ali Parsa Director Zirakzadeh Science Foundation email: [log in to unmask] Tel: +98 21 878-9270 Fax: +98 21 646-2613