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| Title | Galvani's Apparatus |
| Coverage / Year | 1927 to 1937 |
| Description | This is a replica of Luigi Galvani's 1780 apparatus. It includes a frictional electrostatic machine, insulating stand, a Leyden jar (a glass bottle coated inside with tinfoil and having a brass rod connected to a knob passing through a cork) and frog legs. |
| Interpretation | Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) was an Italian physician. While dissecting a frog in front of a classroom of students in 1780, his scalpel accidentally touched a nerve in the frog's leg. Nearby, an electrostatic machine with a charge already built up, discharged an electric spark. This spark passed through the scalpel and then through the frog's leg to the zinc plate underneath causing the frog to convulse violently. Galvani had accidentally discovered electric current. Assuming this reaction was caused by atmospheric charges, Galvani hung up frog legs from an iron trellis in his garden. When storm clouds passed overhead, he observed the same reaction he had observed in the classroom. Galvani was able to repeat these results indoors with two different metallic strips. These experiments caused great interest throughout Europe and stimulated laboratory study of electricity around the world. In fact the word 'galvanized' (the continuous flow of electricity) is derived from Galvani's name. Bauabstalt Modell and Apparatebau built this model of Galvani's Apparatus for the Museum of Science and Industry. |
| Lesson Plans / Themes | American communities in history; |
| Learning Standards | 16 History; 10-12 Science; 13 Science, Technology and Society; |
| Author or Creator | Galvani, Luigi, 1737-1798 |
| Source | De Bono, Edward. Eureka! Illustrated History of Inventions from the Wheel to the Computer. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974. |
| Subject / Keywords | Electrical experiments; Scientific experiments; Electricity; Electric current; Galvani, Luigi, 1737-1798 |
| Collection Publisher | Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
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| Further Information | For any further information related to this record, please contact the Collection Publisher. See http://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/tdc for more information about this project. |
| Rights Management Statement | http://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/tdc/conditions.htm |
| Resource Identifier | 32.179 |
| CONTENTdm file name | 85932151982002_GALVANIS.jpg |
