Does EMF Change During Battery Charging?

AI Thread Summary
When charging a battery, a voltage greater than the battery's electromotive force (emf) is applied to reverse the internal chemical reaction. The emf itself does not remain constant; it changes based on the battery's charge state and the concentration of ions, which affects the Gibbs Free Energy of the reactions. The energy supplied during charging is converted into chemical energy, allowing the battery to store energy. While charging, the applied voltage creates a potential gradient that drives current in the opposite direction, effectively increasing the emf temporarily. Understanding these changes requires familiarity with electrochemical principles, including Gibbs Free Energy and ion concentration.
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My doubt is that when we charge a battery we say that energy is transferred into it , but does the emf of a battery change in this process ? Is the emf same before and after charging , if yes then what actually happens during charging a battery ??

pls help !
 
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When you charge a battery, you apply a voltage greater than that of battery's in order to reverse the internal chemical reaction. The battery's emf is overcome by the voltage you apply to the leads.

The net result is a potential gradient large enough to reverse the chemical flow by pumping energy into the reactions. This is where the energy is stored.
 
so this means that the emf does not change , the extra potential applied just gets converted to chemical energy , did i get it right ??
 
The emf is the electromotive force. This is what pushes the electrons through the circuit and back to ground. Charging a battery sort of provides a bigger emf in the other direction, driving the current backwards. So while the battery is charging the total emf is the other direction but the emf provided by the battery remains the same.
 
A battery's emf does actually change as it is charged or discharged.
 
now i am a bit confused , even i think that the emf changes , but i am unable to figure out the reason , could someone just explane it . pls...
 
Hmm, it's been a while since I studied electrochemistry. I know it has to do with the change in Gibbs Free Energy (ΔG) for the chemical reaction involved, and ΔG depends on the concentration of ions in the battery solutions, which in turn depends on the charge state of the battery.

This site goes into it in detail, but assumes you are familiar with Gibbs Free Energy:
http://www.science.uwaterloo.ca/~cchieh/cact/c123/nernsteq.html

If nobody else can provide a better answer, I'll recommend you look at an introductory chemistry book (perhaps high school honors level, or college freshman level) that has a chapter devoted to electrochemistry. You'll need to be familiar with concepts like enthalpy and free energy, which would also be covered in such a book.

In particular, I can recommend the book Chemistry by Steven and Susan Zumdahl.
 
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