Sources of Electricity Although electricity is a naturally occurring phenomena, in its natural forms, (Lightening, Static Electricity, etc) it has bee of little use to mankind. We have, however, invented ways to generate electricity. Electricity can be generated by Chemical, Magnetic, or Transducer methods. Chemical :The earliest records of Electronics finds the early Egyptians having discovered how to make a crude battery, using lemons (which have citric acid) and two dissimilar metals. Batteries to this day are still produced using two dissimilar conductive materials into an acid ELECTROLYTE . Modern batteries are a little more complex than a couple of batteries though: Perhaps the most common battery in use today is the dry cell, which can be found in nearly every flashlight! The dry cell contains a carbon rod, which acts as the positive terminal, surrounded by a core consisting of manganese dioxide, zinc chloride, glycerin, carbon particles, and sawdust. Around this core is a chemical paste made up of an ammonium chloride solution in starch. A zinc can is then used as the container for the cell and also acts as the negative terminal. The carbon rod reacts with the zinc casing via the pasty electrolyte. This creates a 1.5 Volt potential difference between the positive and negative terminals of the cell. It is not the electrolyte, but the electrodes themselves (the zinc and carbon) which determine the voltage of the cell. Therefore, no matter which electrolyte is chosen to be placed between the zinc and the carbon, the cell will still produce 1.5 Volts. So how do we come up with a 9 Volt battery? Simple. By placing cells in series, we can add the Voltages together. Two 1.5 Volt cells in series would produce a 3 Volt output. 3 would product 4.5 Volts. 6 would produce 9 Volts. When we place cells in series, we say that it is a BATTERY of cells. A close cousin to the Egyptian batteries is the modern LEAD-ACID type battery. Commonly used as automotive type batteries, the negative electrode is made up of pure lead and the positive electrode is a lead-peroxide combination.The electrolyte nominally used is a diluted sulfuric acid. A single lead-acid cell produces 2.1 Volts, but these batteries are commonly produced in either 6.3 or 12.6 Volts.

This Course was written by Ray Dall © All Rights Reserved.
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And for what it's worth... this page was last updated HexDate 01-11--7D1

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