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Physiology and the whole organism  ·  Article

Galvanic cells, polarization and electromotive force

A galvanic cell joins two unlike metals through a liquid and drives a current through a wire. Verworn described how that current weakens when the circuit stays closed, because polarisation-products collect at the metals2. The vocabulary of electromotive force and polarisation then passed into physiology. Later authors applied it to tissues, membranes and single ions569.

Earliest held
1847, Helmholtz, H.
Most discussed in
Comparative Electro-Physiology: A…, 1907
In the library
325 passages in 33 works
Rewritten
2026-11-02
18501875190019251950197520002025Verworn, M., 18991Verworn, M., 18992Bose, J. C., 19063Bose, J. C., 19074Bayliss, W. M., 19155Crile, G. W., 19266Bose, J. C., 19287Sengupta B, Stemmler MB, Friston KJ, 20138Bonzanni M, Payne SL, Adelfio M, Kaplan…, 20209
01

Galvani and the vital current

Verworn (1899) recounted that Galvani proved that the living animal body, especially the nerves, produces electricity1. He added that the importance of this fact was soon overestimated. Ritter, and in part Humboldt and others, extended Galvani's experiments. The idea then spread that the galvanic current causes all vital phenomena1. Some went further and held that all natural phenomena can be explained by galvanic polarity1. Verworn presents this as a search for chemico-physical explanation by investigators who were indifferent to the doctrine of vital force1.

02

Polarisation in the simple element

Verworn used a zinc and copper element to show the term in its physical sense. In his Fig. 188 the copper is the anode and the zinc the kathode2. If the circuit stays closed for long, the current falls below its first strength. He attributed this to polarisation-products formed by electrolytic decomposition, which gather at the metals and themselves act as a galvanic element2. Bose (1907) reported that Du Bois-Reymond named polarising currents homodromous or heterodromous, according to whether they ran with or against the natural discharge of an electrical organ4.

03

Electromotive force in living tissue

Bose (1906) found that the strength of the electromotive force changes which pole excites. At moderate force the kathode is the more excitable. Above a certain value the anode excites at make of the circuit3. In 1928 Bose described two halves of one leaf as the plates of a vegetable cell, with the electromotive force generated by light acting on one of them7. Bayliss (1915) called a membrane with a permanent potential difference polarised, and contrasted it with the contact potential of freely diffusing solutions5. Crile (1926) quoted a method of calculating the electromotive forces of liquid cells from the gas laws and ion mobilities. The quoted author said it works only for dilute solutions. Planck developed the quoted author's general equations by integration6.

04

Use in current work

Sengupta and colleagues (2013) used the term for the force that ion channels using ATP hydrolysis work against. They wrote that cells use ATP hydrolysis to transport protons against the electromotive force8. Bonzanni and colleagues (2020) used it as an experimental lever. Their extracellular solutions change the electromotive force of one ion, which shifts the resting membrane potential if that ion helps set it9. They proposed this as a standard way to screen which ions matter9.

SourcesEach quotation was checked word for word against the passage it opens.
  1. They received a strong stimulus from the new discoveries of Galvani (1737-1798), who proved that electricity is produced by the living animal body, especially by the nerves.Verworn, M., 1899 · General Physiology: An Outline of the Science of Life · open at passage 67
  2. it is found that the current is not so strong as at the beginning. This depends upon the fact that certain substances, the so-called polarisation-products, have become formed by electrolytic decompositionVerworn, M., 1899 · General Physiology: An Outline of the Science of Life · open at passage 1025
  3. I have, however, discovered a very curious case of inversion of excitation which occurs when the E.M.F. exceeds a certain value. With high electromotive force, then, it is the anode which excites at make of the circuit.Bose, J. C., 1906 · Plant Response as a Means of Physiological Investigation · open at passage 479
  4. Polarising-currents in the direction of the natural discharge of the organ are distinguished, in the terminology introduced by Du Bois-Reymond, as homodromous, and those in the opposite as heterodromous.Bose, J. C., 1907 · Comparative Electro-Physiology: A Physico-Physiological Study · open at passage 630
  5. Contrary to the contact potential difference of solutions free to diffuse, it is permanent. We may speak of a membrane of the kind described as being polarised.Bayliss, W. M., 1915 · Principles of General Physiology · open at passage 2773
  6. these electromotive forces can be calculated in absolute units of measurements, from the gas laws and the ion mobilities, for which purpose Planck has developed, by integration, the general equations given by me.Crile, G. W., 1926 · A Bipolar Theory of Living Processes · open at passage 464
  7. the electromotive force being generated by the excitatory action of light on one of themBose, J. C., 1928 · The Motor Mechanism of Plants · open at passage 393
  8. Cells use ATP for cellular maintenance and signalling purposes, via ion channels that use ATP hydrolysis to transport protons against the electromotive force.Sengupta B, Stemmler MB, Friston KJ, 2013 · Information and efficiency in the nervous system--a synthesis · open at passage 26
  9. This technique works by changing the electromotive force of a specific ion, which will impact the RMP if this ion is involved in its establishment.Bonzanni M, Payne SL, Adelfio M, Kaplan DL, Levin M, Oudin…, 2020 · Defined extracellular ionic solutions to study and manipulate the cellular… · open at passage 21
Linked ideas
Bayliss's polarised membrane and Bonzanni's ion-by-ion electromotive force both concern the potential across a membrane.
Galvani's finding that the animal body produces electricity began the line of work on natural currents in tissue.
Bose tied the polarity of excitation, anode or kathode, to the strength of the applied electromotive force.
Sengupta and colleagues describe channels using ATP hydrolysis working against an electromotive force, the same kind of driving force that sets potentials across membranes.
Vitalism and mechanismprecursor of / follows
Verworn describes the galvanic explanation of life as a chemico-physical alternative to the doctrine of vital force.
Where it is discussedPassages matching galvanic polarization, polarisation of the hydrogen plate, electromotive force, elektromotorische Kraft
1907Comparative Electro-Physiology: A Physico-Physiological Study · Bose, J. C.105
1915Principles of General Physiology · Bayliss, W. M.76
1992On Growth and Form · Thompson, D. A. W.21
1906Plant Response as a Means of Physiological Investigation · Bose, J. C.17
1899General Physiology: An Outline of the Science of Life · Verworn, M.15
2016The interplay between genetic and bioelectrical signaling permits a spatial… · Cervera J, Meseguer S, Mafe S10
1847Über die Erhaltung der Kraft · Helmholtz, H.9
1902Response in the Living and Non-Living · Bose, J. C.9
1913Researches on Irritability of Plants · Bose, J. C.9
1926A Bipolar Theory of Living Processes · Crile, G. W.8