Positive
    Bismuth
    Cobalt
    Potassium
    Nickel
    Sodium
    Lead
    Tin
    Copper
    Platinum
    Silver
    Zinc
    Cadmium
    Arsenic
    Iron
    Red phosphorus
    Antimony
    Tellurium
    Selenium
    negative

Other things being equal, the hotter the joint in comparison with the free ends of the bars the stronger the current of electricity.  Within certain limits the current is, in fact, proportional to this difference of temperature.  It always flows in the same direction if the joint is not overheated, or, in other words, raised above a certain temperature.

The electromotive force and current of a thermo-electric couple is very much smaller than that given by an ordinary voltaic cell.  We can, however, multiply the effect by connecting a number of pairs together, and so forming a pile or battery.  Thus figure 23 shows three couples joined “in series,” the positive pole of one being connected to the negative pole of the next.  Now, if all the junctions on the left are hot and those on the right are cool, we will get the united effect of the whole, and the total current will flow through the wire W, joining the extreme bars or positive and negative poles of the battery.  It must be borne in mind that although the bismuth and antimony of this thermo-electric battery, like the zinc and copper of the voltaic or chemico-electric battery, are respectively positive and negative to each other, the poles or wires attached to these metals are, on the contrary, negative and positive.  This peculiarity arises from the current starting between the bismuth and antimony at the heated junction.

The internal resistance of a “thermo-electric pile” is, of course, very slight, the metals being good conductors, and this fact gives it a certain advantage over the voltaic battery.  Moreover, it is cleaner and less troublesome than the chemical battery, for it is only necessary to keep at the required difference of temperature between the hot and cold junctions in order to get a steady current.  No solutions or salts are required, and there appears to be little or no waste of the metals.  It is important, however, to avoid sudden heating and cooling of the joints, as this tends to destroy them.

Clammond, Gulcher, and others have constructed useful thermo-piles for practical purposes.  Figure 24 illustrates a Clammond thermo-pile of 75 couples or elements.  The metals forming these pairs are an alloy of bismuth and antimony for one and iron for the other.  Prisms of the alloy are cast on strips of iron to form the junctions.  They are bent in rings, the junctions in a series making a zig-zag round the circle.  The rings are built one over the other in a cylinder of couples, and the inner junctions are heated by a Bunsen gas-burner in the hollow core of the battery.  A gas-pipe seen in front leads to the burner, and the wires WW connected to the extreme bars or poles are the electrodes of the pile.