Word of the Day
10 February 2026
galvanic action
nounMetallurgy
an electrochemical action that generates electrical current between two metals of dissimilar electrode potential.
Why this one
Named for Luigi Galvani, whose twitching frog legs were the first clue that dissimilar metals in a wet contact make current. The current is the point: one metal feeds the other and wastes away doing it, which is why an aluminium panel on a steel frame gets an isolating washer.
In use
Don't bolt that ally bracket straight onto the galvanised steel, you'll get galvanic action the first time it rains and the bracket will go chalky.
Written by our editors to show how the term is used, not a recorded quotation.