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Electrons have a negative electrical charge, so the movement of electrons is opposite to that of the conventional current flow. Consequently, the mnemonic cathode current departs also means that electrons flow into the device's cathode from the external circuit. For example, the end of a household battery marked with a + (plus) is the cathode.
An electric battery is a source of electric power consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections [1] for powering electrical devices. When a battery is supplying power, its positive terminal is the cathode and its negative terminal is the anode. [2] The terminal marked negative is the source of electrons.
In the following examples, the anode is negative in a device that provides power, and positive in a device that consumes power: In a discharging battery or galvanic cell (diagram on left), the anode is the negative terminal: it is where conventional current flows into the cell. This inward current is carried externally by electrons moving outwards.
For example, in a copper wire of cross-section 0.5 mm 2, carrying a current of 5 A, the drift velocity of the electrons is on the order of a millimetre per second. To take a different example, in the near-vacuum inside a cathode-ray tube, the electrons travel in near-straight lines at about a tenth of the speed of light.
Diagram of a battery with a polymer separator. A separator is a permeable membrane placed between a battery's anode and cathode.The main function of a separator is to keep the two electrodes apart to prevent electrical short circuits while also allowing the transport of ionic charge carriers that are needed to close the circuit during the passage of current in an electrochemical cell.
Illustration of the "reference directions" of the current (), voltage (), and power () variables used in the passive sign convention.If positive current is defined as flowing into the device terminal which is defined to be positive voltage, then positive power (big arrow) given by the equation = represents electric power flowing into the device, and negative power represents power flowing out.
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Inside a source of emf (such as a battery) that is open-circuited, a charge separation occurs between the negative terminal N and the positive terminal P. This leads to an electrostatic field E o p e n c i r c u i t {\displaystyle {\boldsymbol {E}}_{\mathrm {open\ circuit} }} that points from P to N , whereas the emf of the source must be able ...