Elementary treatise on electric batteries . at can be broughtabout by means of electric currents, the decomposition ofwater is the most striking. It is done in an apparatuscalled voltameter, and is represented in Fig. 17. Two wires or plates of platinum are placed parallel toeach other in a jar containing dilute sulphuric two electrodes pass through the bottom of thejar and are attached to binding screws, or terminals, towhich the wires of a battery are fastened. If a sufficiently energetic current be made to pass inthis apparatus, bubbles of gas will be seen to free them- GENERAL R
Elementary treatise on electric batteries . at can be broughtabout by means of electric currents, the decomposition ofwater is the most striking. It is done in an apparatuscalled voltameter, and is represented in Fig. 17. Two wires or plates of platinum are placed parallel toeach other in a jar containing dilute sulphuric two electrodes pass through the bottom of thejar and are attached to binding screws, or terminals, towhich the wires of a battery are fastened. If a sufficiently energetic current be made to pass inthis apparatus, bubbles of gas will be seen to free them- GENERAL REMARKS UPON BATTERIES. 39 selves from the surface of the electrodes; If these gasesbe collected in proper gas-measuring jars, oxygen will befound in one and hydrogen in the other. If they becollected together in a single jar, they will be found tobe sensibly in those proportions whose combination pro-duces water. We say sensibly, for the proportion isnearly always altered by complicated disturbing actions,upon which we cannot here Fig. 17. The electrode by which the current enters the appa-ratus is called positive electrode of the voltameter; it isthat which is connected with the positive pole, or, inother words, with the negative electrode of the batterywhich furnishes the current. The negative electrode of the voltameter is connectedwith the negative pole, or positive electrode or generat-ing electrode of the battery. The oxygen which appears upon the positive electrodeof the voltameter is termed electro-negative y the hydrogenwhich is seen at the surface of the negative electrode ofthe voltameter is termed electro-positive. These denominations may embarrass beginners. Inorder to employ them correctly the key is needed, and 40 SINGLE-LIQUID BATTERIES. this may be found in the old theoretical ideas upon thetwo electric fluids, the one positive and the other nega-tive. There is, at each point in a circuit through whicha current flows, a reuniting of positive and negat
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