XXIII. Electro-chemical researches, on the decomposition of the earths; with observations on the metals obtained from the alkaline earths, and on the amalgam procured from ammonia

Abstract

In the Philosophical Transactions for 1807, Part I. and 1808, Part I. I have detailed the general methods of decomposition by electricity, and stated various new facts obtained in consequence of the application of them. The results of the experiments on potash and soda, as I stated in my last communication to the Society, afforded me the strongest hopes of being able to effect the decomposition both of the alkaline and common earths; and the phenomena obtained in the first imperfect trials made upon those bodies countenanced the ideas that had obtained from the earliest periods of chemistry, of their being metallic in their nature.*

Contribution of Electricity to Materials Processing: Historical and Current Perspectives

“…34 This is needed to separate the oxygen anions from the metal (reaction 1): (1) heat is needed to sustain the reaction and obtain the metal in the liquid form.…”

“…Helped by the availability at the Royal Society of the world's largest battery, H. Davy became a chemist of standing and isolated alkaline and alkaline earth elements thanks to electrolysis. 1 The isolation of these reactive elements in less than two decades to separate other elements thanks to metallothermic reaction (e.g., beryllium [glucinium] by reduction of its chloride salts with electrolytic potassium). 2,3 Less than two decades after Volta's invena means to provide heat and obtain temperatures hardly achievable with previous laboratory techniques: J.G.…”

“…1 The corresponding industrial processes were designed and operated less than a century later, for sodium (from sodium hydroxide by Castner in 1891 17 and later sodium chloride electrolysis by Downs 18 ), magnesium (chloride electrolysis principle by Faraday in 1833 19 ), lithium (commercial production started in 1923 from chlorides) or rare-earth 20,21 ). One metal, isolated before the advent of electrolysis, has lead to one of the most fascinating business and technological adventures of the 20th century: aluminum.…”

Boron and Marine Life: A New Look at an Enigmatic Bioelement

“…Boron was first isolated by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, Louis Jacques Thênard, and Humphry Davy in 1808 (Davy 1808;Gay-Lussac and Thenard 1808, respectively). On the 200th anniversary of this event, we would like to reflect on its role in the ocean and in marine life in particular.…”

Friction phenomena in hydrostatic extrusion of magnesium

“…Magnesium is not scarce; it is the sixth most common element on earth and amounts to 2.5 % of its composition [1]. Davy was the first to isolate magnesium as a metal in 1808 [2]. Prior to this discovery, it was only known in the form of salts, which seemed to heal scratches and rashes.…”