Heyrovský’s drops

Jaroslav Heyrovský

Source: Archives of the Jaroslav Heyrovský institute of physical chemistry – CC-BY-SA

The Nobel-winning invention that changed electrochemistry

 I remember a practical I did as an undergraduate. I have never forgotten the strangeness of the apparatus, which included a small burette filled with mercury, droplets of which fell through a solution at regular intervals, tic, tic, tic. I had no idea of the significance of the technique – polarography – at the time, but it revolutionised electrochemistry.