.. DO NOT EDIT.
.. THIS FILE WAS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED BY SPHINX-GALLERY.
.. TO MAKE CHANGES, EDIT THE SOURCE PYTHON FILE:
.. "api/gallery/electrochem/battery/plot_02_voltaic_pile.py"
.. LINE NUMBERS ARE GIVEN BELOW.

.. only:: html

    .. note::
        :class: sphx-glr-download-link-note

        :ref:`Go to the end <sphx_glr_download_api_gallery_electrochem_battery_plot_02_voltaic_pile.py>`
        to download the full example code.

.. rst-class:: sphx-glr-example-title

.. _sphx_glr_api_gallery_electrochem_battery_plot_02_voltaic_pile.py:


Volta's pile: stacking zinc-silver cells in series
====================================================

Volta's 1800 pile was a stack of identical zinc | brine | silver (or
copper) pairs. Each pair contributes the difference between the two
metals' reduction potentials -- the "contact" driving force Volta
insisted on against Galvani's animal electricity -- and stacking pairs
in series adds their voltages. This example computes the single-pair
voltage with :func:`~chemistrykit.electrochem.systems.standard_potentials.cell_potential`,
shows how the pile voltage grows linearly with the number of pairs, and
compares Volta's zinc-silver pairing with zinc-copper and a frog-leg-free
"same metal" pair that produces nothing at all.

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 17-23

.. code-block:: Python

    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
    import numpy as np

    from chemistrykit.electrochem.systems.standard_potentials import STANDARD_REDUCTION_POTENTIALS as T
    from chemistrykit.electrochem.systems.standard_potentials import cell_potential








.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 24-27

One pair: silver is the cathode (more positive reduction potential),
zinc the anode. Two pieces of the *same* metal give exactly zero --
the dissimilarity of the metals is what matters.

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 27-35

.. code-block:: Python

    pairs = {
        "Zn | Ag (Volta)": cell_potential(T["Ag+/Ag"], T["Zn2+/Zn"]),
        "Zn | Cu": cell_potential(T["Cu2+/Cu"], T["Zn2+/Zn"]),
        "Zn | Zn": cell_potential(T["Zn2+/Zn"], T["Zn2+/Zn"]),
    }
    for name, E in pairs.items():
        print(f"{name:16s}: {E:.2f} V per pair")





.. rst-class:: sphx-glr-script-out

 .. code-block:: none

    Zn | Ag (Volta) : 1.56 V per pair
    Zn | Cu         : 1.10 V per pair
    Zn | Zn         : 0.00 V per pair




.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 36-37

Stacking N identical pairs in series multiplies the voltage by N.

.. GENERATED FROM PYTHON SOURCE LINES 37-47

.. code-block:: Python

    n_pairs = np.arange(1, 61)
    fig, ax = plt.subplots()
    for name, E in pairs.items():
        ax.plot(n_pairs, n_pairs * E, label=name)
    ax.set_xlabel("Number of pairs in the pile")
    ax.set_ylabel("Open-circuit pile voltage (V)")
    ax.set_title("Volta's pile: series stacking of two-metal cells")
    ax.legend()
    fig.tight_layout()
    plt.show()



.. image-sg:: /api/gallery/electrochem/battery/images/sphx_glr_plot_02_voltaic_pile_001.png
   :alt: Volta's pile: series stacking of two-metal cells
   :srcset: /api/gallery/electrochem/battery/images/sphx_glr_plot_02_voltaic_pile_001.png
   :class: sphx-glr-single-img






.. rst-class:: sphx-glr-timing

   **Total running time of the script:** (0 minutes 0.038 seconds)


.. _sphx_glr_download_api_gallery_electrochem_battery_plot_02_voltaic_pile.py:

.. only:: html

  .. container:: sphx-glr-footer sphx-glr-footer-example

    .. container:: sphx-glr-download sphx-glr-download-jupyter

      :download:`Download Jupyter notebook: plot_02_voltaic_pile.ipynb <plot_02_voltaic_pile.ipynb>`

    .. container:: sphx-glr-download sphx-glr-download-python

      :download:`Download Python source code: plot_02_voltaic_pile.py <plot_02_voltaic_pile.py>`

    .. container:: sphx-glr-download sphx-glr-download-zip

      :download:`Download zipped: plot_02_voltaic_pile.zip <plot_02_voltaic_pile.zip>`


.. only:: html

 .. rst-class:: sphx-glr-signature

    `Gallery generated by Sphinx-Gallery <https://sphinx-gallery.github.io>`_