Sir Anthony Carlisle

The Volta pile was of extraordinary significance for developments both in the sciences of electricity and electrochemistry, since a new phenomenon, a continuous electric current, hitherto not known, could now be realized. Soon various properties and effects of the electric current were discovered, including many electrochemical processes. In May of 1800, William Nicholson and Sir Anthony Carlisle electrolyzed... 

In 1800 William Nicholson and Sir Anthony Carlisle discovered electrolysis and initiated the science of electrochemistry. In their experiments they employed a voltaic pile to liberate oxygen and hydrogen from water. They discovered that the amount of oxygen and hydrogen liberated by the current was proportional to the amount of current used. 

Electrolysis of water, mentioned above, had been described by the British chemists WilUam Nicholson (1753-1815) and Sir Anthony Carlisle (1768-1842) in 1800. But Grove s experiment seemed to go in the opposite direction. This reverse eleoctrolysis is the basic operation of the fuel cell—the combination of hydrogen gas (H ) and oxygen gas (O ) to produce water and energy, as described in the following chemical equation ... 

British chemists William Nicholson (1753-1815) and Sir Anthony Carlisle (1768-1842) discover electrolysis of water. 

British scientists William Nicholson and Sir Anthony Carlisle learn that applying an electric current to water produces oxygen and hydrogen gases. 

Hydrogen as an energy carrier and potentially widely used fuel is attractive because it can be produced easily without emissions by splitting water. In addition, the readily available electrolyzer can be used in a home or business where off peak or surplus electricity could be used to make the environmentally preferred gas. Electrolysis was first demonstrated in 1800 by William Nicholson and Sir Anthony Carlisle and has found a variety of niche markets ever since. Two electrolyzer technologies, alkaline and proton exchange membrane (PEM), exist at the commercial level with solid oxide electrolysis in the research phase. 

The nineteenth century was an exciting time for electrical experimentation and discovery. Shortly after Alessandro Volta demonstrated the voltaic pile to the Royal Society of London in 1800, two experimenters, William Nicholson and Sir Anthony Carlisle, discovered that hydrogen and oxygen could be produced by passing an electric current through water. This was the first demonstration of the principle of electrolysis. 

Cecil s suggestion came only 20 years after another fundamental discovery electrolysis (breaking water down into hydrogen and oxygen by passing an electrical current through it). That discovery had been made by two English scientists, William Nicholson and Sir Anthony Carlisle, 6 years after Lavoisier s execution and just a few weeks after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta built his first electric cell. 

Sir Anthony Carlisle (Stillingworth, Durham, 15 February 1768-London, 2 November 1840) was third professor of anatomy in the Royal Academy of Art, London, then chief surgeon in Westminster Hospital and surgeon to the Prince of Wales. ... 

Nicholson and Sir Anthony Carlisle in London electrolyzed water, producing... 

In 1800. William Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle decomposed water into hydrogen and oxygen by an electric current supplied by a voltaic pile. Whereas Volta had pruduced electricity from chemical action these experimenters reversed the process and utilized electricity to produce chemical changes. In 1807. Sir Humphry Davy discovered two new elements, potassium and sodium, by the electrolysis of ihe respective solid hydroxides, utilizing a voltaic pile as the source of electric power. These electrolytic processes were the forerunners of the many industrial electrolytic processes used today to obtain aluminum, chlorine, hydrogen, or oxygen, for example, or in die electroplating of metals such as silver or chromium. 

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