How Batteries REALLY Work - Electronics Basics 2

Explore the physical and chemical working of a battery at the electron level to visualise how things really work.

Every little helps :)

These videos are here to ensure you have a basic understanding of the fundamentals that makes electronics work!

Leave your comments below, suggestions may be considered for a video.

[avieus]

Finally, a clear, layman-friendly and visually attractive primer on battery / electron flow

[sebastiangiraldo]

4:30
dramatic silence


"..the battery...will be dead."

[pharaoh]

The  explanation given in the video might confuse many. May I suggest:
A charged battery, produces a STRESS (an Electromotive Force: EMF (another word for Voltage)) between the terminals, due to a surplus of electrons on one side (Negative Terminal) and a surplus of positive Ions (atoms or molecules missing an electron) on the other battery (+) terminal .
Within the battery the electrons  on  the negative terminal cannot  travel through the batteries electrolyte. On discharge: The arrival of an electron on the positive terminal turns a positive ion off (it neutralizes the ion.) So in this video it would rightly show electrons leaving the negative terminal and arriving at the positive terminal, there would be no electron flow through the battery.
 It is the EMF that pushes the electron flow through the wire.  This is why connecting  the negative terminal of one battery  to the positive terminal of the other battery (alone) just increases the voltage (there are two sources of EMF working together) but it doesn’t cause the electrons to move from the negative terminal of one battery to the positive terminal of the other, because there is no stress between batteries, just stress within the batteries.

NOTE: In a rechargeable battery the positive Ions can and do travel through the electrolyte depending on if the battery is charging or discharging. So in a rechargeable battery while electrons flow on one direction outside the battery, Ions flow in the opposite direction within the battery. All driven by the EMF. If this video was using a rechargeable battery it could show Ion flow
within the battery.

Hope this helps some of you. .

[the_dark_jumper]

I think you just made me understand my last ~2 years of electronics in school, multiple things I couldn't understand far beyond the "simple" initial question of "which way do the electrons flow when I attach a battery to a circuit" that got me to this video. And that in less than 3 minutes... well done.

[dougscott]

I loved this... great explanation about the separation within the battery - Potential has a whole new meaning...


Loved the electron flow... but when I use "Every Circuit" the electrons seem to flow in the opposite direction - what am I doing wrong? why doesn't it default to the correct direction?

[thewiseofearth]

your series Electronics Basics is a life savor.

[Avisqq]

You say the particles cannot pass through the battery but the animation shows them passing through :( that really messed me up untill you clarified it. Thank you.

[niteshmeena]

Thanks man... U don't no how many videos i have watched... To clear my concept... Now... Its done... ❤️❤️❤️

[sultanbaibars]

I appreciate how to you focus your attention on people who may struggle to understand electricity. Thanks

[noksuan]

this is eye opening, the battery isn't dead it just went from a state of opposition to equilibrium

[sophiesleeps]

Wow I had no idea it was this easy! Thanks a lot!

[-madhumitamanikmahapatra]

Same type of confusion I had since I started learning about all this circuit kind of stuff!!!! But now I got this video 🙃🙃🤩..

[AsbestosCrisis]

Gutted you're not making videos anymore. These have all been so fantastic!

[nickpierpoint]

Your the only guy that makes sense to me on this

[sonnyobrien]

the BEST electronics courses. Your visual aids are so useful

[BlackKitty]

I've never understand how a battery works. Now I got it. Thank you!

[markfranchi]

Great video! Thank you so much for clarifying the exact thing I have been hung up on lately with this topic.

[theSEGAtwistisoverk]

what a great question but you only answered half of it. What happens to the energy used by the LED if some of it is burnt off producing light and heat, is it taken from the totally of the battery's energy pool, after it has reached a neutral state either side. Is there technically less energy or rather electrons held in the battery ?

[donatocapitella]

These are great videos! Based on the previous video, I expected this diode in the circuit to be the other way... I thought the way it's placed in the circuit should not conduct?

[rion]

how is the led lighting if it's in reverse bias with electron flow?