- #1
Jimmy87
- 686
- 17
I have taken bits of information from various places to try and come up with my own description of how a battery works but am unsure as to whether it is correct. A battery creates an electric field by separating charges (positive and negative terminals). The electric field then causes positive charges (assuming conventional current) to be attracted to the negative terminal of the battery in the same way that a positive point charge is attracted to a negative one. Once a positive charge reaches the negative terminal it has no potential (voltage). The battery then does work on the charge to move it back to a high potential by moving it to the positive terminal. Is this correct? I am a bit unsure about the electric field bit. What happens if you have a very long wire in your circuit for instance, say 6 miles long (bit exaggerated I know), would the electric field created by the battery still be able to reach out and move the electrons within the wire that are far out?