Re: Battery chemistry vexation

Hi,

There is a problem which needs addressing. The assignment of positive and negative aspects was done before it was fully understood, and they got it wrong. There is actually an abundance of electrons at the positive terminal and a lack of electrons at the negative terminal.

Looking inside the battery, there are 2 reactions happening. An oxidation reaction and a reduction reaction. The oxidation reaction happens at the positive electrode and the reduction reaction happens at the negative electrode. The oxidation reaction produces electrons, which flows in the wire to the negative terminal for reduction reaction to occur. The movement of electrons through the battery media is very difficult, so the electrons are pushed into the wire. The reduction reaction tends to pull the electrons from the negative terminal. This pushing and pulling of electrons is called electromotive force.

Why does putting 2 batteries together not ruin one of them? Inside the battery, even though the media prevents electrons from moving through it, it does allow positive ions to move easily. When a battery is working, there is a flow of positive ions from the positive terminal to the negative terminal. Since the positive ions cannot move in a wire, or move from one battery to another, the batteries are not ruined from connecting them together. 

You can get more information on the web:
http://www.batteryeducation.com/2006/08/how_do_batterie.html

Lance


--- In [email protected], "RetroSmith" <retrosmith@...> wrote:
>
> I understand that through chemical half-reactions an abundance of electrons are amassed at the negative terminal of a battery and a deficit of electrons at the positive terminal. I also understand that you can connect two batteries in series to double the voltage. However, when the batteries are touching at their terminals, but before a circuit is completed, what is happening at the touching terminals? What is keeping the electrons from simply flowing from the negative terminal of the battery into the positive terminal of the other that it is in contact with?
> 
> Wouldn't the electrons flow into the positive terminal of the other battery discharging it until it uses up all of its excess electrons? This would create one battery full of electrons and another of positive charge. Clearly this is not the case, but what prevents this from happening?
>




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