electromotiveadj.n.

1800 tr. A. Volta in Philos. Mag. 7 302 I establish on one side a good communication with one of the extremities of my electro-motive apparatus [Fr. appareil électro-moteur], (we must give new names to instruments that are new..); and on the other I apply the forehead, eye-lid, tip of the nose, also well moistened.

1804 B. Lambert tr. C. L. Berthollet Ess. Chem. Statics iii. iii. 163 An electromotive apparatus so composed of large plates, produces a great effect on metals.

1807 H. Davy in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 97 46 The Voltaic pile of 20 pairs of plates of copper and zinc exhibits no permanent electromotive power when the connecting fluid is water free from air.

1823 W. Henry Elements Exper. Chem. (ed. 9) I. v. 188 Zinc and copper plates..by their electromotive power.

1901 Proc. Royal Soc. 68 83 On recongelation there is no electromotive effect at the critical temperature.

1979 Science 7 Dec. 1153/3 The first protonmotive device conceived by man was the electromotive hydrogen-burning fuel cell, invented by William Grove in 1839.

1998 Jrnl. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 93 1257/1 There is no association between low-level electromotive fields (i.e., living near power lines) and childhood leukemia.

1887 Engineer 29 July 95 The electro-motive consists of an angle iron frame supporting three platforms.

1913 Science 15 Aug. 219/1 The electromotives of the Loetschberg Tunnel line just opened will be among those dealt with.

1953 Pop. Sci. Dec. 142/1 The four 200-class Electro Motives whine as the grade begins to lift, but the only noticeable slowdown is for the twisting curves.

1824 Encycl. Brit. Suppl. IV. 431/2 It cannot..supply this action itself, as its own electromotive force is so very weak and insensible.

1878 M. Foster Text Bk. Physiol. (ed. 2) i. ii. 49 The electromotive force of the sciatic nerve of a frog.

1922 T. M. Lowry Inorg. Chem. xviii. 197 An electric battery in which the chemical action can be reversed completely by a current passing through it in opposition to its electromotive force is called an accumulator.

1971 Tri-City Herald (Washington) 23 June 8/13 We conceive of a ‘decibel’ as a unit of sound, as a ‘volt’ is a unit of electromotive force.

2004 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101 2855/2 Glu-14..couples the proton electromotive force driving substrate translocation.

1843 R. Hare Of Galvanism 26 in Compend. Chem. Instr. I have already ascertained that aurum musivum, spread on the naked surface of the tinned paper, produces an electromotive series.

1915 A. P. Mathews Physiol. Chem. iv. 120 All of these metals come below hydrogen in the order of their solution tensions, that is in the electromotive series of the metals.

1989 Constr. & Building Materials 3 38/2 The results also cast doubt on the accepted position of certain metals in the electromotive series.

1864 H. Watts Dict. Chem. II. 476 When an electric current from a voltaic couple is passed along any portion of a nerve, the nerve begins to act electromotively at all its points.

1924 A. J. Allmand & H. J. T. Ellingham Princ. Appl. Electrochem. (ed. 2) viii. 144 Le Blanc considers that an ion such as M^.. is only electromotively active when it is not hydrated.

1984 Sci. Total Environment 37 188 Then, by the transport mechanism, the receptacle with the specimens was electromotively moved across the primary beam.

a1867 C. E. Morgan Electro-physiol. & Therapeutics (1868) xviii. 301 The current cannot be said to be completely developed, unless the parelectronomic layer loses its entire electromotivity.

1900 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 193 128 The original positive current of a freshly excised eyeball has two factors: electromotivity of the cut end of the optic nerve and electromotivity of the disturbed retina.

1999 Notes & Rec. Royal Soc. 53 59 An important influence on Volta in the formulation of his contact theory of electromotivity.