I know that in a normal battery once the electrons have made their way from the anode to the cathode the battery dies, but rechargeable batteries are able to sort of reset the battery once it’s been put on charge.
Every time I watch a YouTube video on rechargeable batteries all they say is “We do this by forcing the electrons back to the anode” without explaining exactly how that works and its driving me up the goddamn wall.
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For starters to recharge anything, the voltage of the charger or charging battery (jumpstarting) has to be of higher voltage than the battery being charged, otherwise the current goes in the opposite direction.
You can think of voltage as a force. In order to change course, you have to have a higher force.
The ability to recharge comes from the chemistry. Basically the chemical process is reversible. Depending on the chemistry of the battery when fully charged will be some chemical make-up, and then when it discharges becomes another chemical. When you apply the charger you reverse it back to the original chemical make up. The process isn’t perfect and over time it loses its ability to reverse the chemicals. Which is why they lose performance over time (assuming no physical defect).
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