Chapter 139

139. The Discovery of Electricity (1)

****

Istina opened the door to the research lab and stepped in, turning her head at an odd sound. There were a few frogs in one corner.

“Ribbit!”

“What are the frogs for?”

Naturally, they’re for experiments. Last time I tried explaining the principles of nerves to you but failed. So we need these.

“We’ll conduct an experiment. Hurry up and get ready.”

Istina put down her bag, donned her lab gown, and walked over to the frog tank, still looking bewildered.

****

We gathered the frog tank and some experimental supplies and moved to the lab.

“So, what kind of experiment is this?”

“Remember last time when I said nerves work like telegraph wires, sending information to muscles? You just looked at me like I was speaking Martian.”

This is the solution.

Istina nodded.

“There was once a senior researcher named Galvani.”

“Senior?”

“Senior Galvani discovered that if you hang a frog on a copper ring and cut its nerve with a zinc knife, the dead frog’s leg moves.”

“Huh?”

“I told you already. If you hang a frog on a copper ring and cut it with a zinc knife, you can make the dead frog’s leg move.”

“How did he even discover that?”

“Well… sometimes randomness leads to breakthroughs. That’s why conducting various experiments is important.”

Anyway…

“Yeah. Galvani believed there was some mysterious ‘qi’ inside muscles. He called it animal electricity.”

“Aha! So you’re saying this mysterious energy moves the frog’s muscles?”

“Not quite.”

Mysterious energy? Half of what Galvani said was right.

“First off, Galvani was half-right and half-wrong. Living organisms’ muscles and nerves do transmit electrical signals as Galvani thought.”

“Yes.”

“But the electricity isn’t stored in the dead frog’s muscles. It’s created by the potential difference between copper and zinc, which affects the recently deceased frog’s muscles.”

With a sigh and the sound of pages flipping, Istina pulled out her notebook and began writing everything down, tilting her head.

“But Professor, what exactly is electricity?”

“That’s the question.”

I put on my lab gown and grabbed a frog. Time for an explanation.

I didn’t plan to kill it cruelly. I applied anesthetic to the back of its neck, and soon it passed out like it was dead.

On a small dissection tray…

“The key point here is this: Galvani believed electricity was an inherent property of living beings, while Volta believed it was unrelated to life and depended on the materials used in experiments.”

“Yes.”

“So Volta ended up discovering electricity. While researching whether this so-called animal electricity actually existed, we’ll replicate their experiments.”

Istina closed her notebook.

“Are these seniors you keep mentioning metaphors, jokes, or imaginary friends?”

All three guesses are wrong…

“Let’s call them metaphors.”

In short, both Volta and Galvani were partly right and partly wrong. At the time, Volta’s theory was considered more correct.

The force moving muscles isn’t electricity but chemical energy stored within muscles.

However, the signal commanding muscle movement is transmitted electrically. When Galvani stimulated the muscle with electricity, it moved.

I cut open the frog’s leg…

Istina watched carefully over my shoulder as the frog’s body was slowly dissected.

“The frog’s heart is still beating.”

“It needs to be fresh for the muscles to function longer.”

After a moment, I carefully exposed the frog’s sciatic nerve.

Following Galvani’s old experiment, when I touched the sciatic nerve with zinc and copper rods…

The frog’s leg twitched.

Istina gasped softly.

“It’s really happening… Is there a specific reason it has to be copper and zinc?”

It’s complicated, involving the potential differences between metals… Honestly, I’m not entirely sure myself.

“Don’t know.”

“Ahh, understood.”

This isn’t the end. We’re not just studying how nerves work; we’re inventing electricity.

****

“What do we do with the frog remains?”

What do we do? Leave them.

“Istina, through this experiment, we’ve discovered that the interaction between copper and zinc can produce small electrical signals. And that it’s related to nerves.”

“Oh, right.”

“What’s the next logical step?”

“I’m not sure…”

Well, doesn’t matter.

I placed zinc and copper plates I’d prepared days ago on the workbench. Materials for a Voltaic pile.

“The method’s simple. Place saltwater-soaked cardboard between zinc and copper plates, stacking them as much as possible. More stacks, more electricity.”

“What is this?”

“A battery. A device that creates electricity.”

“When was this invented?”

Actually, no invention was necessary.

Batteries at this level can be made by sticking coins into potatoes. This is just a larger version of a potato battery, nothing complex.

Completed.

Stacking copper and zinc plates to create a battery didn’t take long. Now all we need to do is connect wires to the Voltaic pile.

Let’s call it the Asterix Battery from now on in this world. Anyway, we connected wires to both poles of the battery…

As we brought the ends of the wire close together, a faint blue light passed between them.

This is electricity.

Volta believed this phenomenon between the wire ends was the essence of electricity. That electricity arose from metallic contact.

Volta thought biological electricity didn’t exist. Faraday later theorized that various types of electricity – biological, magnetic – were all fundamentally electromagnetism…

But my memory’s fuzzy there. I’m a people expert, not an electricity expert.

“You can see it?”

“Yeah. Copper is relatively more reactive than zinc, so it corrodes in saltwater, releasing energy through the wire.”

“Incredible.”

Anyway, physiologically speaking, Galvani discovered that electrical stimulation could move dead frog muscles, and Volta invented the battery based on that.

“So, Professor, the conclusion today is that electricity from a machine can move frog muscles?”

I nodded.

“Simply put, tiny amounts of electricity send contraction commands to muscles. Same principle applies to dead frog bodies.”

Istina placed two wires against the frog’s leg. With a small electric shock, the frog’s leg began to twitch.

“Really! So this is what you meant about connecting to medical knowledge. Would applying electric shocks to living creatures cause involuntary muscle contractions?”

That’s exactly what would happen. Do you think I lie?

Istina muttered for a while.

Creating torture devices the moment she sees a battery… Istina truly is an extraordinary talent. Definitely smart.

“Applying electricity to living creatures can indeed cause involuntary muscle contractions since muscle contraction is triggered by electrical stimulation.”

Tasers work on this principle.

Of course, there are far more productive applications to research first. But you got the main point right.

“Istina, go explain today’s experiment to Amy. We’ll be studying this for a while, so you need to understand it properly.”

Writing a paper goes without saying.

After presenting, we need to find practical uses for the Voltaic pile. Through my company would be ideal, but that’s uncertain.

We tidied up the lab.

The half-dissected frog corpse was preserved in a jar and placed on the shelf.

The invention of the battery and electricity will soon be announced to the academic community, causing quite a stir.

Strictly speaking, this isn’t physiology or medicine, so we should find a professor in the relevant field to co-publish the paper.

That shouldn’t be too difficult.

The discovery of electricity.

Honestly, it wasn’t part of the plan, but somehow it happened. This could change the history of the empire’s academic community and potentially lead to practical applications like telegraph communication.

This will become research that changes the history of the empire.

****

That afternoon,

Mint visited the lab. She plopped down on the sofa like usual.

“There’s a lot of paper on your desk today, Teacher.”

“Ah, I haven’t had time to tidy up yet.”

“You’ve been busy, huh?”

The princess sat comfortably on the lab sofa as usual. Mint glanced at the messy desk and the half-open frog specimen.

“We conducted a major experiment today.”

“What is it? Another new medicine?”

“Nope. This time we didn’t create medicine. We invented a machine that generates electricity. There are ways to use this too.”

Mint tilted her head.

“Teacher, if you’ve invented something new that could help the empire, shouldn’t you bring it to the imperial palace to show off?”

---