How a Battery works?
The secret behind the batteries
Do you know the secret behind the batteries? If not, stay with me, you’ll be amazed. Batteries convert chemical energy into electrical one. We previously saw that electricity is just the movement of electrons. So the battery is just a device that stores those electrons and delivers them whenever it’s needed.
But how is that possible?
Before we answer this questions we must know the following:
Atoms are what constitutes the matter.
In atoms we find a Nucleus which is composed of Proton and Neutron, and electrons that orbit around the Nucleus.
Some Atoms have higher chances to lose electrons and others their probabilities are high to capture an electron.
When an Atom loses or gains an electron we call it an ion.
Now we can move forward. Two questions are relevant for our understanding:
What is Inside the Battery ?
Anode: Atoms that have high probabilities of losing electrons. — Example: Lithium
Cathode: Atoms that have high probabilities of capturing electrons. Example: Iron
Electrolyte: The medium in which ions will travel from Anode to Cathode. The Electrolyte only allows ions to travel and stop the electrons. Example: Water or salt.
Separator can be added to make sure there will be no contact between the anode and cathode.
2. What happens inside the battery?
Two main chemical reaction happens inside the batteries:
Oxidation: Loss of electrons
Reduction: Gain of electrons
Keep in mind Oil Rig: Oxidation is loss Reduction is gain.
Those reactions don’t happen separately. Because they both happen at the same time we call it a RedOx reaction. Below you can see an example of Oxidation reaction of calcium and the reduction reaction of Iron. They are called Individual half equations.
Finally to link our two answers:
. Anode is the element in which oxidation take place
. Cathode is the element in which reduction take place
. The electrons accumulated in the anode will be transferred to the anode using a wire. Thus we stored electrons and delivered them when needed. Movement of electrons = Electricity.
