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GMU:BioArt WS15/(non)living and the lemon battery (view source)
Revision as of 18:02, 8 December 2015
, 8 December 2015→Historical context of electricity
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== living-non living and the posthuman state == | == living-non living and the posthuman state == | ||
== Historical context of electricity == | == Historical context of electricity == | ||
Organisms could be characterized by their ability to conduct electricity which is known since the second half of XVIII century. Edmund Whittaker (1910) mentions 1780s Luigi Galvani's and his assistants' experiments which demonstrated convulsions of frog legs if attached to electric machine and which were considered as animal electricity. A slightly different approach to electricity is presented by Alessandro Volta who in 1799 builds his Voltaic Pile known as the first electrical battery (RSC 2015). Described as reaction between chemical elements the Voltaic Pile had two electrodes of different metals placed between pads of moist material. | |||
The characterization of organisms capable of electrical conductivity in reference to reaction between nerves (organic) and metals (non organic) instead of animal electricity is brought by Johann Wilhelm Ritter (Berg 2008) after a number of experiments shortly before his death in 1810. | |||
== Electricity generated by interaction between organic and non organic elements == | == Electricity generated by interaction between organic and non organic elements == | ||