- The stacks of Baghdad -
 
ARTICLE
The mystery that hides behind the jars of Baghdad

A primary battery power for gilding

The German engineer Wilhelm Koning In 1936 he found himself working in the basement of the Baghdad Museum of Iraq (more precisely Kuyut Rabbou'a) of which he was director for the function call into sewers when found various items in ancient unclassified. One of these objects is of particular interest because it appeared to be in fact a galvanic generator , A battery capable of generating electricity.
Externally the object appeared as a vase rather high and long but not larger than that of a hand. The vase was made of yellow clay at the top and had a cap of asphalt, which would govern a copper cylinder of 2.6 cm x9, which in turn contained a smaller cylinder of iron. What unleashed in amazement Koning and others, however, was the fact that filling the inner chamber of a slightly acidic solution, the object is produced that could feed a torch for a few minutes. Several scholars have used different substances to see the impact that produced the stack: the salty water of copper sulfate to benzoquinone with vinegar.
Although the voltage produced by this battery, 1.5 volt, was very poor and not very durable, several scholars have suggested that different ponendone in series or in parallel would have been possible to use the energy produced for various purposes such as gilding with technical masters. Although no remains have been found that show this type of work, not be excluded for the time (Civilization of the Parties II sec. BC) using this technique. Just think that even today in those same areas this method of gilding is still widely applied: the process consists essentially nell'immergere the object must undergo the gold plating in a solution of salts of cyanide in gold vase sufficiently porous, immersed in his time in a salt solution. The oxidation reaction is carried out by a piece of zinc immersed in the first solution and connected to the electricity grid. The so-called g could be a crude tool for gilding then.
All this was confirmed in 1938 the University of Pennsylvania, where the so-called Baghdad batteries are still exposed. Since these vessels were well 2000 years one wonders how it was possible the realization of such manufactured goods, except with the help of a ' understanding of extra-terrestrial origin : This is the assumption that advancing the supporters of ' archeology Space .

Related Images

 Schematic of a stack of Baghdad
 

OUTLINE OF A BATTERY OF BAGHDAD



 Components of a vase of Baghdad
 

COMPONENTS OF A VASE OF BAGHDAD



 Components of a vase of Baghdad
 

COMPONENTS OF A VASE OF BAGHDAD



 As it was a pile of Baghdad closed
 

HOW IS MADE OF A BATTERY BAGHDAD CLOSED


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