Bunsen cell



The Bunsen cell is a zinc-carbon primary cell (colloquially called "battery") composed of a zinc anode in dilute sulphuric acid separated by a porous pot from a carbon cathode in nitric or chromic acid. Cell voltage is about 1.9 volts.

The cell is named after its inventor, German chemist Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, who improved upon the Grove cell by replacing Grove's platinum electrode with a much cheaper gas retort carbon. This battery, like Grove's, emitted noxious fumes.

Bunsen used this cell to extract metals from their salts by electrolysis, enabling him to isolate metallic magnesium for the first time.