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Thread: the "Baghdad Battery"

  1. #1

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    Im watching some show on the Discovery Channel as we...uh...speak, called...er...MythBusters (?? I think??). Anyhow...they test out all these myths to see if theyre plausible or not (for instance, before this baghdad battery thing, they figured out the fastest way to chill a 6 pack to 38 degrees F or less. A fire extinguisher! Or..if you dont wanna use your only defence vs. fire, just throw some ice, water, and salt in a cooler. Itll chill yer beer to frickin freezing a-s cold in 5 minutes. :w00t Cheers&#33.

    Anyhow...it seems a doohickey thats roughly 2000 years old was located just outside Baghdad. Its a jar containing an iron rod, surrounded by a copper cylinder with a stopper made of asphault. When filled with vinegar, this thing produces 1.1 volts of electricity. A battery! Maybe.... Theyre actually talking about it being used for something called "electroplating." Putting one layer of metal over another....Heres a few links:

    LINK 1

    A better link!

    Theyve built a bunch of these things on this show and are now in the process of shocking each other with them. :rolleyes

    What do you fine people here think of this thingy?
    (Patron of Lord Rahl)

  2. #2
    No, that isn't a banana
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    good find, and great show! i love those guys. crazy!

    excellent reading too.

  3. #3
    imb39's Avatar Comes Rei Militaris
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    In Britain we have a program called 'What have the Ancients done for us?' (Derived from the infamous 'hat have the Roman's done for us? sketch...)

    Anyway they 'made' their own battery and linked up a few. They discussed what the battery could have been used for - one possible use was indeed electroplating but another was that (as it provides a slight tingling sensation (especially on the tongue) it could easily have been used as a 'cure' for various ailments... Quite interesting really.

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