Britannica
Sources used in this answer
Which features of metals did Alessandro Volta think affected the electrical response of frog muscles?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Luigi Galvani
Luigi Galvani in an illustration from Le Journal de la Jeunesse, Paris, 1880.
Alessandro Volta argued that the electrical response observed in frog muscles was not caused by an innate "animal electricity," as Luigi Galvani proposed, but rather by the contact of dissimilar metals.
Volta believed that the electrical stimulation of the muscle was affected by the following features of the metals used:
- Temper
- Composition
- Bulk
Volta contended that the frogās legs acted merely as an indicating electroscope, responding to the electricity generated by these metallic differences. He further noted that the agitation of the muscle would increase in proportion to the degree of dissimilarity between the metals in contact with the tissue.1