If the modern city is disconnected for at least an hour from the power supply, then a situation will inevitably arise in it, to indicate which the softest word will be collapse. And it is inevitable, to such an extent electricity has entered everyday life. The question involuntarily arises - how did our ancestors for thousands of years do without this type of energy? Were they completely devoid of her potential? Researchers have no clear answer to this question.
A find made in the suburbs of Baghdad
It is generally accepted that mankind became acquainted with electric current only in the second half of the 18th century, and this happened thanks to two indefatigable Italians who devoted their lives to the study of physical phenomena - Luigi Galvani and his successor Alexander Volt. It is thanks to these people that electric trains are running on rails today, the lights in our houses are turned on, and a perforator starts to rattle at neighbors in the late hours.
However, this undeniable truth was shaken by a find made in 1936 by the Austrian archaeologist Wilhelm Köning in the vicinity of Baghdad and dubbed the Baghdad battery. The story is silent about whether the researcher himself delved into the ground, or simply bought an artifact from local "black archaeologists." The latter even seems more likely, since otherwise some other curious things might have been discovered, but the world only found out about one unique find.
What is a Baghdad battery?
Thanks to William Köning, mankind acquired an amazing artifact that resembled an ancient sand-colored ceramic vessel whose height did not exceed fifteen centimeters, and the age, apparently, was equal to two millennia. The neck of the find was sealed with a tar plug, over which were visible the remains of a metal rod protruding from it, for a long time almost completely destroyed by corrosion.
Having removed the resin cork and looking inside, the researchers found there a thin copper sheet rolled up by a tube. Its length was nine centimeters, and the diameter was twenty-five millimeters. It was through it that a metal rod was passed, the lower end not reaching the bottom, but the upper one going out. But the strangest thing was that the whole structure was held in the air, reliably insulated with resin, which covered the bottom of the vessel and clogged the neck.
How could this thing work?
Now the question is to all who conscientiously attended physics lessons: what does it look like? Wilhelm Köning found the answer to it, because he was not among truants - it is a galvanic cell for electricity, or, more simply, a Baghdad battery!
No matter how crazy this idea might seem, it was difficult to challenge. It is enough to conduct a simple experiment. It is necessary to fill the vessel with electrolyte, which may well be suitable grape or lemon juice, as well as vinegar, well known in ancient times.
Since the solution will completely cover the metal rod and the copper tube that are not in contact with each other, a potential difference will arise between them and an electric current will certainly appear. All doubters are sent to the physics textbook for the eighth grade.
The current really goes, but then what?
After that, the ancient electrician could only make sure that the Baghdad battery was wired with some suitable energy consumer - say, a floor lamp made from papyrus leaves. However, it could be a simple street lamp.
Anticipating the skeptics' objections that at least one light bulb is needed for any lighting fixture, we will give the arguments of the supporters of this seemingly fantastic idea, and find out whether people who lived long before our era could create an incandescent lamp, without which the ancient Baghdad battery lost any meaning?
What could a bulb made in ancient Egypt look like?
It turns out that this is not impossible, at least they should not have had problems with glass, because, according to science, the ancient Egyptians invented it five thousand years ago. It is known that long before the appearance of the pyramids, on the banks of the Nile, heating a mixture of sand, soda ash and lime to high temperatures, they began to receive a glassy mass. Despite the fact that at first its transparency left much to be desired, over time, and it was enough before our era, the process was improved, and as a result they began to get glass close to its modern look.
The situation is more complicated with the filament, but here optimists do not give up. As their main argument, they cite a mysterious figure found on the wall of an Egyptian tomb (a photo from it is given in our article). On it, an ancient artist depicted an object very similar to a modern lamp, inside of which something resembling this very thread is clearly visible. Even more convincing to the drawing is the image of the cord brought to the lamp.
If not a lamp, then what?
Optimists respond to skeptics' objections: “I agree, the picture may not depict a light bulb at all, but some fruit grown by ancient Michurin people, but how then to explain why no traces of soot from oil lamps or "There were no torches in the pyramids, and sunlight did not penetrate into them, and it is impossible to work in complete darkness."
So, there was some kind of light source unknown to us. However, even if the ancients did not have any bulbs, this does not mean at all that the Baghdad battery, the description of which is given above, could not be used for any other purpose.
Another curious hypothesis
In ancient Iran, on the territory of which a sensational discovery was made, copper dishes often coated with a thin layer of silver or gold were often used. From this, she won from an aesthetic point of view and became environmentally cleaner, since noble metals tend to kill microbes. But such a coating can only be applied by the electrolytic method. Only he gives the product a perfect look.
This hypothesis was taken to prove by the German scientist-Egyptologist Arne Egggebrecht. Having made ten vessels, exactly the same as the Baghdad battery, and filling them with a salt solution of gold, he managed in several hours to cover with an even layer of noble metal a copper statuette of Osiris, specially designed for the experiment.
The arguments of the skeptics
However, in fairness it is necessary to listen to the arguments of the other side as well - those who consider the electrification of the Ancient World to be an invention of idle dreamers. In their arsenal there are mainly three weighty arguments.
First of all, they quite reasonably note that if the Baghdad battery really was a galvanic cell, then it was periodically necessary to add electrolyte to it, and the design, in which the neck was filled with resin, did not allow this. Thus, the battery became a disposable device, which in itself is unlikely.
In addition, skeptics indicate that if the Baghdad battery is really a device for generating electricity, then among the finds of archaeologists, inevitably, all sorts of related attributes, such as wires, conductors, and so on, should have been encountered. In reality, nothing of the kind was discovered.
And, finally, the strongest argument can be considered an indication that so far in the monuments of ancient writing has not been mentioned the use of any electrical devices, which would be inevitable with their mass application. Also missing are their images. The exception is only the ancient Egyptian drawing, which was described above, but it does not have an unambiguous interpretation.
So what is it?
So for what purpose was the Baghdad battery created? The opponents of the electrical theory explain the purpose of this intriguing artifact extremely prosaically. In their opinion, it served only as a place of storage of ancient papyrus or parchment scrolls.
In their statement, they rely on the fact that, from time immemorial, it was really customary to store scrolls in clay or ceramic vessels similar to this one, however, without sealing the neck with resin and without wrapping them on metal rods. But they are not at all able to explain the purpose of the copper tube. The fate of the scroll itself, allegedly kept inside, is also incomprehensible. He could not rot so much that he did not leave any traces.
Artifact who did not want to reveal his secret
Alas, the secrets of the Baghdad battery remain unsolved to this day. As a result of experiments, it was possible to establish that a device of a similar design is really capable of generating a voltage of one and a half volts, but this does not prove at all that Wilhelm Köning's find was used in this way. There are very few supporters of electrical theory, because it contradicts the official data of science, and everyone who encroaches on them risks being known as an ignoramus and a charlatan.