Components

The battery

You may think that batteries were invented at about the same time as some of the devices which use them such as the Gameboy or Walkman. In fact, the world's first battery was invented 200 years ago.

In 1800 an Italian scientist discovered that, with the right combination of metals and liquids, you could produce electricity. Perhaps you have heard of Volta batteries? The scientist was Alessandro Volta and the electrical measurement known as the volt (the amount of energy electricity possesses) was named after him.

A cut-away of a cell. What we usually call a battery is actually a cell. The word battery means two or more cells working together.