How does a Battery Work

Battery is becoming more and more important in our daily life. In some cases, we can’t live without batteries – we can’t live without our mobile phones, shavers or automobiles. But do you really know how does a battery work?

Electricity, as you probably know, is the flow of electrons through a conductive path just like a cable. This trail is known as a circuit.

Batteries have three parts, an anode (-), a cathode (+), along with the electrolyte. The cathode and anode (the positive and negative sides at either end of a conventional battery) are hooked around an electrical circuit.

This results in an electrical difference between the cathode and the anode. This difference can be thought of by you as an unstable buildup of the electrons. The electrons need to rearrange themselves to get rid of this difference. Nevertheless they do that in a way that is certain. Electrons repel each other and attempt to really go to a location with fewer electrons.

In a battery, the sole place to go is to the cathode. However, the electrolyte keeps the electrons from going right in the anode to the cathode inside the battery. In the picture above, the electrons go through the cable, lighting the bulb that is light on the way.

Yet, these electrochemical processes change the compounds in anode and cathode to get them stop supplying electrons. So there's a restricted quantity of power available in a battery.

You shift the direction of the flow of electrons using another power source, like solar power systems, when a battery is recharged by you. The anode and cathode are restored with their original state, as well as the electrochemical processes happen in reverse and may again provide full electricity.

Keep in mind that the chemical compounds in a battery can be dangerous so don’t open a battery by yourself.