- Giuseppe Zamboni
Giuseppe Zamboni (1776 -
1846-07-25 ,Venice ) was an Italian Roman Catholicpriest andphysicist who invented theZamboni pile , an early electric battery similar to theVoltaic pile .Biography
He was born in either Venice (or, depending on the source,
Verona ) in northernItaly ) in June 1776. Shortly after completing his studies in theseminary at Verona, "Abate" Zamboni was appointed to the chair of physics in the lyceum of that city. He died inVenice on July 25, 1846.Invention
Zamboni is known to students of physics for an improved version of the dry pile (an electric battery which does not use an
electrolyte ) which he invented in 1812. It consists of a number of paper discs coated withzinc foil on one side andmanganese dioxide on the other; the moisture of the paper serves as a conductor. By pressing a large number of such discs together in a glass tube, anelectromotive force can be obtained that is sufficient enough to deflect the leaves of an ordinaryelectroscope . By bringing the terminal knobs of the pile near each other and suspending a light brass ball between them, Zamboni devised what was called an electrostatic clock. The device is so named because the ball oscillating between the knobs looks like apendulum . In theClarendon Laboratory atOxford University , the terminals of such a pile are fitted with bells that have been continuously ringing since the device was set up in 1840. Note that the Zamboni pile is not a hypotheticalperpetual motion device, as all action will eventually cease when the zinc is completely oxidized or the manganese exhausted.Writings
Among Zamboni's works are: "Della pila elettrica a secco" (Venice, 1812); "L'elettromotore perpetuo" (Venice, 1820); "Descrizione d'un nuovo galvanometro" (Venice, 1833).
References
*Citation | last = | first = | author-link = | last2 = | first2 = | author2-link = | title = Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Giuseppe Zamboni | date = | year = | url = http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Giuseppe_Zamboni | accessdate =
2008-01-18
*Citation | last = Tinazzi | first = Massimo | author-link = | last2 = | first2 = | author2-link = | title = Perpetual Electromotive of Giuseppe Zamboni | date = | year = 1996 | url = http://www.brera.unimi.it/sisfa/atti/1996/tinazzi.html | accessdate =2008-01-18
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