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An electrochemical cell is a device that produces an electric current from energy released by a spontaneous redox reaction. This kind of cell includes the Galvanic cell or Voltaic cell, named after Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta, both scientists who conducted experiments on chemical reactions and electric current during the late 18th century.
The electrolyte is a chemical substance which contains free ions and carries electric current (e.g. an ion-conducting polymer, solution, or a ionic liquid compound). If the ions are not mobile, as in most solid salts, then electrolysis cannot occur. A liquid electrolyte is produced by:
Sparks — Electrical breakdown of a medium that produces an ongoing plasma discharge, similar to the instant spark, resulting from a current flowing through normally nonconductive media such as air. Telluric currents — Extremely low frequency electric current that occurs naturally over large underground areas at or near the surface of the Earth.
A similar galvanic reaction is exploited in primary cells to generate a useful electrical voltage to power portable devices. This phenomenon is named after Italian physician Luigi Galvani (1737–1798). A similar type of corrosion caused by the presence of an external electric current is called electrolytic corrosion.
Electrical energy can also be applied to these cells to cause chemical reactions to occur. [1] Electrochemical cells that generate an electric current are called voltaic or galvanic cells and those that generate chemical reactions, via electrolysis for example, are called electrolytic cells. [2]
The electric motor exploits an important effect of electromagnetism: a current through a magnetic field experiences a force at right angles to both the field and current. This relationship between magnetic fields and currents is extremely important, for it led to Michael Faraday's invention of the electric motor in 1821.
The electric field sends the electron to the p-type material, and the hole to the n-type material. If an external current path is provided, electrical energy will be available to do work. The electron flow provides the current, and the cell's electric field creates the voltage. With both current and voltage the silicon cell has power.
Galvanism is a term invented by the late 18th-century physicist and chemist Alessandro Volta to refer to the generation of electric current by chemical action. [2] The term also came to refer to the discoveries of its namesake, Luigi Galvani , specifically the generation of electric current within biological organisms and the contraction ...