Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Slovenia mushroom foraging
Slovenia • 6 days, 5 nights
Forest to Table in Alpine Slovenia
from
Central Asia yurt night stars
Uzbekistan • 15 days, 14 nights
Central Asia Road Trip: Backroads & Bazaars
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
The exterior of STRAAT.
STRAAT
The front of the St. Charles’ Church
St. Charles’ Church
The miniature theatre’s 200-seat capacity is slowly being filled with tiny figurines of beloved film characters, from classic movie stars to Muppets. Statler and Waldorf are perched in their usual spot at the front-right balcony. There’s even an ongoing call for visitors and locals to add their own favorite characters to the growing crowd.
East Van Vodville Cinema
Gombe mountains seen from Lake Tanganyika.
Gombe National Park
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
Cacio e pepe lasagna combines two classics.
C'è pasta... E pasta!
Spaghetto taratatà is named for the sound of rattling sabers.
Giano Restaurant
The gnocchi here get blanketed in a sugo with braised oxtail.
Cesare al Pellegrino
Romans insist you should feel the cracked peppercorns and cheese grains on your tongue.
Flavio al Velavevodetto
Tripe is fried to a crisp.
L’Osteria della Trippa
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
The rocky Revere Beach coast in Revere, Massachusetts, just outside Boston.
Which Places With Bad Raps Are Actually Worth Visiting?
about 22 hours ago
A dugong displays the telltale “smile.”
Saving the Sea Cows of Vanuatu
about 22 hours ago
The first photo of the “woolly devil” made a stir among botanists when Deb Manley uploaded it to iNaturalist in March 2024.
How the Woolly Devil, Member of a New Plant Genus, Was Discovered on a Hike in Big Bend
2 days ago
You don’t need to go to Turkey to see hundreds of hot air balloons rising.
Dear Atlas: Where Can I Find the Most Unusual Festivals in the U.S.?
3 days ago

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United Kingdom England Oxford Oxford Electric Bell
AO Edited

Oxford Electric Bell

This battery powered bell has been ringing since 1840 and is one of the worlds longest running science experiments.

Oxford, England

Added By
renakaba
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
  http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/history.asp?pa...
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oxford_E...
  http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/history.asp?pa...
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

For over 170 years, the Oxford Electric Bell (also known as the Clarendon Dry Pile) has been chiming almost continuously, the composition of its power source uncertain. Currently located in the Clarendon Laboratory at the University of Oxford, the Bell is an experiment consisting of two brass bells each stationed beneath a dry pile battery, with a metal sphere (or 'clapper') swinging between them to produce a ring that has occurred on the order of 10 billion times.

First displayed in 1840, it was constructed by instrument makers Watkin and Hill, and purchased by professor of physics Reverend Robert Walker. The sphere suspended between the two bells is 4mm in diameter, perpetually alternating between the bells by way of electrostatic force and producing an oscillation frequency of 2 Hertz.

As the sphere hits one of the bells, the corresponding dry pile battery gives off a small charge thus electrostatically repelling the clapper, causing it to be attracted to the opposite bell. The process repeats with only a tiny amount of charge being carried between the two brass bells, so while a high voltage is required to create the motion, it is only a small drain on the battery, so the dry piles have continued to ring the bell for nearly 170 years, making it one of the longest-lasting scientific experiments in the world.

What is most interesting, and mysterious, about the apparatus is the internal composition of the 'dry pile' batteries. It is known that they have been coated with an insulating layer of molten sulfur in order to protect against atmospheric damage (i.e. moisture), then connected in series at their lower end to the two bells.

Their interior is suspected to be similar to that of Zamboni piles (an early electric battery invented by Giuseppe Zamboni in 1812), as records of popular curiosities of the same time period have been found. This indicates that the dry pile batteries are probably composed of alternating layers of metal foil and paper coated with manganese dioxide that may be several thousand layers, or discs, thick.

While devices such as these can be considered a novelty, at the time they helped to distinguish the now-outdated scientific theory of contact tension (a theory that attempted to account for all known sources of electric charge) and the theory of chemical action (also known as 'electrochemistry' and involved the transfer of electrons between the electrode and electrolyte).

The Electric Bell is still ringing, though is barely audible as it is now encased in a glass bell jar two layers thick.

The Atlas Obscura Podcast is a short, daily celebration of all the world's strange and wondrous places. Check out this episode about the Oxford Electric Bell.

Related Tags

Instruments Of Science Electrical Oddities

Community Contributors

Added By

renakaba

Edited By

linkogecko, cdanesh

  • linkogecko
  • cdanesh

Published

January 12, 2010

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/history.asp?page=exhibit1
  • http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0143-0807/5/4/001
  • http://books.google.com/books?id=y4IAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA273&lpg=PA273&dq=clarendon+dry+pile&source=bl&ots=czBLbGKjYF&sig=CLgcaIV5b79Dy7FTRhB8eoKvFm4&hl=en&ei=M8pLS5O4D5PSsQOmvaShCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAcQ6AEwADgU#v=onepage&q=clarendon%20dry%20pile&f=false
Oxford Electric Bell
20 Parks Rd
Oxford, England, OX1 3PB
United Kingdom
51.759939, -1.256754
Visit Website
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Pitt Rivers Museum

Oxford, England

miles away

Oxford Museum of Natural History

Oxford, England

miles away

Lamb and Flag

Oxford, England

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Oxford

Oxford

England

Places 46
Stories 8

Nearby Places

Pitt Rivers Museum

Oxford, England

miles away

Oxford Museum of Natural History

Oxford, England

miles away

Lamb and Flag

Oxford, England

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Oxford

Oxford

England

Places 46
Stories 8

Related Stories and Lists

Science That Doesn’t Stop

Podcast

By The Podcast Team

Atlas Obscura's Guide to the Longest Running Scientific Experiments

science

By Sarah Brumble

Related Places

  • HAARP Antenna Grid with Electrical Transformers

    Gakona, Alaska

    H.A.A.R.P.

    An auroral research program that superheats the ionosphere.

  • Tesla Coil

    Los Angeles, California

    Griffith Observatory's Tesla Coil

    High on a hill overlooking Los Angeles lives a world famous, high power conical Tesla Coil.

  • Note Leyh in the sphere.

    Kaukapakapa, New Zealand

    Electrum

    One of the world's largest Tesla coils.

  • A model of the Marconi’s original Table Head station at Glace Bay.

    Glace Bay, Nova Scotia

    Marconi National Historic Site

    Site of the first official transatlantic wireless communications.

  • New York, New York

    MoMath - The Museum of Mathematics

    A Pythagorean funhouse that tries, successfully, to prove that math is the coolest thing ever.

  • Nikola Tesla Museum, Belgrade

    Belgrade, Serbia

    Belgrade Tesla Museum

    Nikola Tesla's ashes are held in a golden sphere, surrounded by his works.

  • Wardenclyffe Laboratory

    Shoreham, New York

    Tesla's Wardenclyffe Laboratory

    An unrealized dream to wirelessly electrify the entire Earth.

  • The massive telescope array is visible from all over the small town

    Green Bank, West Virginia

    Green Bank: A Town for 'Wi-Fi Refugees'

    This rural community has attracted both scientists and techno-refugees due to its federally-mandated lack of technology.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.