Grotthdss Theory

Grotthdss Theory, in Electricity, is a suggested explanation of the actions that take place in an ordinary battery. Given two dissimilar substances such as zinc and copper placed in a conducting liquid such as sulphuric acid, the theory is that under the action of the opposite electricities that are induced on the different metals, the molecules of the conducting liquid have each a constituent that is attracted towards one pole and another constituent attracted towards the other pole. When the circuit is closed by the poles being connected by an external conductor, this tendency forthe molecules of liquid to become split up is partially satisfied. Hydrogen in the acid solution is attracted towards the copper, and oxygen, the other constituent of the water, is attracted towards the zinc. Not that, hydrogen atoms stream in a free state through the liquid towards the copper pole and oxygen towards the zinc pole; but as soon as a molecule of water near the zinc is split up into its constituents, hydrogen remains there and oxygen combines with a molecule near it, throwing out a previously combined molecule of hydrogen. This seizes the oxygen from a complete molecule near and sets free another molecule of hydrogen. Thus the only free constituents exist at the poles. The theory is rather mechanical, and differs essentially from the modern idea of disassociated constituents (or ions) in the liquid conductor of electricity.