Does a higher concentration of electrons mean a stronger electric field in a battery?

Thread Starter

Mooney117

Joined May 27, 2020
10
I'm 15 and have recently taken up electronics and I just had a question about batteries.

From what I understand (and according to a video I just watched by "The Engineering Mindest") a battery has a high concentration of electrons on it's negative terminal which creates the potential difference as well as an electric field.

So does this mean that the higher concentration of electrons on it's negative plate (aka a greater potential difference) mean a stronger electric field between the battery's 2 terminals?
 

MrChips

Joined Oct 2, 2009
30,618
I'm 15 and have recently taken up electronics and I just had a question about batteries.

From what I understand (and according to a video I just watched by "The Engineering Mindest") a battery has a high concentration of electrons on it's negative terminal which creates the potential difference as well as an electric field.

So does this mean that the higher concentration of electrons on it's negative plate (aka a greater potential difference) mean a stronger electric field between the battery's 2 terminals?
Yes.
 

BobTPH

Joined Jun 5, 2013
8,765
What you describe is a capacitor, not a battery. Batteries create electric potential not by a concentration of electrons, but by a chemical process.

Bob
 

crutschow

Joined Mar 14, 2008
34,201
The battery chemical process generates the voltage difference which determines the electron concentration ( and thus the electric field) at the plates.
The actual number of excess electrons is determined by the capacitance between the plates.
And note that any added electrons at the negative plate are balanced by a deficiency of electrons at the positive plate.
 

BobaMosfet

Joined Jul 1, 2009
2,110
I'm 15 and have recently taken up electronics and I just had a question about batteries.

From what I understand (and according to a video I just watched by "The Engineering Mindest") a battery has a high concentration of electrons on it's negative terminal which creates the potential difference as well as an electric field.

So does this mean that the higher concentration of electrons on it's negative plate (aka a greater potential difference) mean a stronger electric field between the battery's 2 terminals?
Title: Understanding Basic Electronics, 1st Ed.
Publisher: The American Radio Relay League
ISBN: 0-87259-398-3
 

MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
11,342
I'm 15 and have recently taken up electronics and I just had a question about batteries.

From what I understand (and according to a video I just watched by "The Engineering Mindest") a battery has a high concentration of electrons on it's negative terminal which creates the potential difference as well as an electric field.

So does this mean that the higher concentration of electrons on it's negative plate (aka a greater potential difference) mean a stronger electric field between the battery's 2 terminals?
Hello,

Well, if you start to charge a 12v battery that has a starting voltage of 11.5 volts and after the charge is done the voltage is 12.5 volts, i guess the electric field has increased a little. I dont think that is much of an issue though but perhaps you have a good reason for asking this that is not apparent yet.

The more important point by a long shot is the amount of 'charge' that the battery is able to store because the terminal voltage is usually fairly constant (to a point). This is measured in ampere hours or milliampere hours.
For example, a cell phone battery usually has a milliampere hour rating of around 3000.
The abbreviation for ampere hour is Ah and for milliampere hour it is mAh but there are some variations.
 
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