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The terms anode and cathode are not defined by the voltage polarity of electrodes, but are usually defined by the direction of current through the electrode. An anode usually is the electrode of a device through which conventional current (positive charge) flows into the device from an external circuit, while a cathode usually is the electrode through which conventional current flows out of ...
Each device has an anodal, positively charged electrode and a cathodal, negative electrode. Current is "conventionally" described as flowing from the positive anode, through the intervening conducting tissue, to the cathode, creating a circuit. Note that in traditional electric circuits constructed from metal wires, charge drift is created by ...
The anode is the electrode through which the conventional current enters from the electrical circuit of an electrochemical cell (battery) into the non-metallic cell. The electrons then flow to the other side of the battery. Benjamin Franklin surmised that the electrical flow moved from positive to negative. [4]
The cathode is the electrode where reduction (gain of electrons) takes place (metal B electrode); in a galvanic cell, it is the positive electrode, as ions get reduced by taking up electrons from the electrode and plate out (while in electrolysis, the cathode is the negative terminal and attracts positive ions from the solution).
Diagram of a copper cathode in a galvanic cell (e.g., a battery). Positively charged cations move towards the cathode allowing a positive current i to flow out of the cathode. A cathode is the electrode from which a conventional current leaves a polarized electrical device such as a lead-acid battery.
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. When a battery is connected to an external electric load, those negatively charged electrons flow through the circuit and reach to the positive terminal, thus cause a redox ...
Electrochemical cells have two conductive electrodes (the anode and the cathode). The anode is defined as the electrode where oxidation occurs and the cathode is the electrode where the reduction takes place. Electrodes can be made from any sufficiently conductive materials, such as metals, semiconductors, graphite, and even conductive polymers.
To avoid possible ambiguities, the electrode potential thus defined can also be referred to as Gibbs–Stockholm electrode potential. In both conventions, the standard hydrogen electrode is defined to have a potential of 0 V. Both conventions also agree on the sign of E for a half-cell reaction when it is written as a reduction.