THE POLAROGRAPH

In order to accelerate the measurements with dropping mercury electrode Heyrovský with his Japanese coworker Masuzo Shikata constructed an automatic instrument which they called polarograph. The instrument slowly and continuously increased or decreased mutual polarity of the electrodes and at the same time recorded photographically the current passing through the solution and electrodes as function of voltage applied to the electrodes.

On the resulting polarographic curves appear steps of current, so-called waves. The height of the wave is the measure of concentration of the substance dissolved in the solution and its position on the potential axis is characteristic of the substance. According to the name of the instrument that records the course of polarization of the electrodes, the method of electrolysis with dropping mercury electrode has got the name polarography.