How does charging a battery work?
In: Chemistry
A battery has an anode, which has excess electrons that it wants to give up. And it has a cathode, which wants more electrons than it has. If you connect the two, current will flow from the anode to the cathode.
Eventually you’ll reach a point where the anode has given up all the electrons it had to give, and the cathode can’t take any more electrons, so now the battery can’t make current anymore. This is when the battery is “dead.”
Rechargeable batteries can be connected to external current that is strong enough to force electrons to flow the other way – away from the cathode and back to the anode. This essentially “resets” the battery – after charging, the anode is stocked up again with excess electrons that it’s ready to give to the cathode.
A battery is like a bucket with a hole in the bottom and a valve. If you connect a hose to the valve, then water will leak out, discharging the battery.
If you connect a hose with a pump on the other side, then you can push more water into the bucket
Latest Answers