- #1
Moogie
- 168
- 1
Hi
If you are kind enough to answer this please bear in mind that I know next to no physics and I'm quite intimidated by the subject so please don't give me an intractable answer that I won't understand. Please feel free to answer as if you are talking to a nice but dim high school student.
The question is in the title. I'm from a biological sciences background trying to learn about electricity. I've just learned a little about electric fields and electric potential and now I'm moving on to current electricity, starting with batteries.
I've just read this:
"Within the electrochemical cells of the battery, there is an electric field established between the two terminals, directed from the positive terminal towards the negative terminal. As such, the movement of a positive test charge through the cells from the negative terminal to the positive terminal would require work, thus increasing the potential energy of every Coulomb of charge that moves along this path. This corresponds to a movement of positive charge against the electric field. It is for this reason that the positive terminal is described as the high potential"
I know this might be an obvious question but does this mean the positive terminal is actually positively charged and the negative terminal is negatively charged? (I have a vague recollection from redox reactions or something that sometimes its not what you would think it is but its so vague I can't remember)
I have searched the forum for an answer to this question but I didn't understand it as it talked about capacitors and I don't know what they are
Many thanks in advance
If you are kind enough to answer this please bear in mind that I know next to no physics and I'm quite intimidated by the subject so please don't give me an intractable answer that I won't understand. Please feel free to answer as if you are talking to a nice but dim high school student.
The question is in the title. I'm from a biological sciences background trying to learn about electricity. I've just learned a little about electric fields and electric potential and now I'm moving on to current electricity, starting with batteries.
I've just read this:
"Within the electrochemical cells of the battery, there is an electric field established between the two terminals, directed from the positive terminal towards the negative terminal. As such, the movement of a positive test charge through the cells from the negative terminal to the positive terminal would require work, thus increasing the potential energy of every Coulomb of charge that moves along this path. This corresponds to a movement of positive charge against the electric field. It is for this reason that the positive terminal is described as the high potential"
I know this might be an obvious question but does this mean the positive terminal is actually positively charged and the negative terminal is negatively charged? (I have a vague recollection from redox reactions or something that sometimes its not what you would think it is but its so vague I can't remember)
I have searched the forum for an answer to this question but I didn't understand it as it talked about capacitors and I don't know what they are
Many thanks in advance