Electric arc (Petrov and Davy)
Arco eléctrico (Petrov y Davy)
- Date
- 1802-1809 · confidence high
- Place
- Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Credited to
- Vasily Petrov and Humphry Davy
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Petrov discovered the arc between two carbons with a giant voltaic pile in 1802, and Davy demonstrated it in London in 1807-09. It was the first intense electric light and the basis of the arc lamp and arc furnace.
Petrov published in Russian in 1803 and his priority went unnoticed in the West; Davy popularised the phenomenon, and the name 'arc' comes from its curved shape in hot air.
What it led to
- arc lamps and electric street lighting
- electric arc furnace and arc welding
- projector carbons and arc searchlights