The Baghdad Battery
It seems that the Mesopotamians gave us a head start on how to produce electricity long before it was discovered. In the 1930s, a mysterious artefact was discovered during an archaeological dig not far from Baghdad. The so-called ’Baghdad Battery’ was a 13-centimetre jar, with a corroded iron rod protruding from the mouth. A copper cylinder was found inside the vessel...and inside the cylinder there was another iron rod.
Having examined its construction, experts came to the conclusion that this was an ancient battery, capable of producing an electrical current of 1 volt.
According to one theory, such a battery may have been used for electroplating gold. But experts are still at a loss as to how such a technological development was later forgotten, and why nothing similar has ever been found in neighbouring regions.
The Baghdad Battery
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