76 Mr. Binks on the Laws of Action of Voltaic Electricity, 



Experiment. 1st. A copper plate, clean on both its sides, 

 was first put in operation ; when its associated zinc plate lost 

 12*2 grs. 2nd. One side of the copper plate was now covered 

 with wax and the connected zinc plate then lost 10*5 grains ; 

 showing, as you have remarked before*, that the outer sur- 

 face is, to a slight extent, engaged in the operation ; but not 

 so importantly as to make it of much regard in the construc- 

 tion of voltaic batteries. 



First Investigation. Part II. 



To determine the influence and its extent, of increasing the 

 size of the zinc plate beyond that of the copper one. 



In some of the galvanic batteries recently constructed the 

 form is such that each successive couple is greater or smaller 

 by a certain ratio than its adjoining one ; and the arrange- 

 ment of such a combination may be, either that a zinc plate 

 is operating along with a larger copper plate; or that the zinc 

 plate is the superior in size compared with the copper one 

 immersed with it and operating in the same mass of liquid. 

 Besides this, it is a matter of common remark, that the power 

 of such arrangements is augmented by the employment of 

 zinc plates the larger of the two. 



Having already determined the kind and amount of in- 

 fluence exercised by copper plates of various comparative sizes, 

 it follows to determine in what way the zinc or generating 

 surfaces will operate when made the greater of the two ; the 

 ultimate object of the inquiry being to test the alleged supe- 

 riority of tnose forms of voltaic batteries which permit of such 

 an arrangement being brought into action. 



The experiments were conducted in a manner similar to 

 the preceding ones, except that, in as much as the zinc plates 

 here used were too large to admit of their being weighed with 

 sufficient nicety, the amount of action was estimated, not by 

 the loss of metal, but by the measure of evolved hydrogen. 



First the two plates were of equal size, then the zinc was 

 increased, the original copper plate being used throughout. 



Table No. 6. 



1st. Copper and zinc, when equal, gave hyd. = 08 cubic inches. 



2nd. with zinc, twice its size, — hyd. = 1'6 



3rd. zinc, four times, — hyd. = 2'4 



4th. zinc, six times — hyd. = 2*5 



5th. zinc, eight times, — hyd. = 2*2 



(Jth. zinc, twelve times, — h)d. = 2*2 



7th. zinc, sixteen times, — hyd. = 2-2 



8th. zinc, twenty times,' — hyd. = 2*2 



IHh. zinc, twenty-four times, hyd. = 2*2 



♦ Philosophical Transactions, 1836, p 113, 116. 



