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Information & Learning Center
An electrical battery is a combination of one or more electrochemical cells, used to convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. The modern battery was the invention of Alessandro Volta. Volta's Voltaic pile was a set of galvanized cells working in series to boost its output. Since then batteries have undergone multiple facelifts and technologic advances and can be in various products used everyday. The battery has become a common power source for many household and industrial applications.
Batteries may be used once and discarded, or recharged for years as in standby power applications. Miniature cells are used to power devices such as hearing aids and wristwatches; larger batteries provide standby power for telephone exchanges or computer data centers.
Batteries have 6 basic parts:
Positive and Negative Terminals: the outer contacts of the battery.
Positive and Negative Electrodes: an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit.
Cathode and Anode: the positively or negatively charged chemicals within the battery.
Collector Pin: used to connect the negative electrode to the
circuit.
Seperator: used to keep the chemicals of the cathode and anode seperate.
Batteries provide electricity to the circuit its connected to. The electrons flow from the positively charged electrode to the negative electrode creating the current that we know as electricity. The current is measured in amps and a battery is measured by its amp hours, how long it can sustain that current.
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