- #1
dhong089
- 10
- 0
Hello everyone. I think I have a major misunderstanding about the nature of batteries, and just the basic concept of electricity. I would really appreciate your help in straightening some things out. So I’m just going to leap right into the questions.
1. So a battery emits electrons from one terminal and into the other. The electrons START from the negative side and enter into the positive side… right? On all batteries, the electrons start from the negative (thus the reason why that specific terminal is called “negative”). But why do I keep reading from different places that electrons start from the positive? For example, this is what a specific website states: “The positive terminal of your battery can deliver dangerous amounts of current if it shorts to ground. This can be avoided easily.” (the specific quote is referring to car batteries and how you should always remove the negative terminal first). Isn’t the quote basically saying that the positive terminal emits the electrons?
Overall, I’m just confused with car batteries in general. The term “ground” also confuses me a lot. The automotive world keeps throwing around this term called “ground,” yet I don’t exactly understand what it means. Yes, I did have a basic understanding of the concept of grounding, but once I started getting deeper into the automotive world, I feel like I have no clue what grounding really means. People keep saying how it’s so important to remove the negative terminal first, yet I can’t understand why. Can someone solidify my misunderstandings?
2. Let’s say you have a car battery. If you attach a wire from the negative to the positive, the wire would probably get VERY hot, almost instantly (because there is no load/resistance). Thus, if you accidentally drop a wrench or something and it touches both terminals of the battery, a very dangerous event would ensue. Is my understanding correct?
Assuming my understanding is correct, can someone explain the concept of measuring a battery with a voltmeter? When measuring a battery with a meter, you would have to attach a positive probe to the positive terminal and a negative probe to the negative terminal. By doing this, isn’t the circuit complete? Why shouldn’t the voltmeter spontaneously explode and burst into flames?
3. I was playing with batteries and a small test-light yesterday, and I came across a puzzling event. So let’s say I have 1 AA battery (1.5V), wires, and a test-light. If I attach a wire to the negative side, and let the wire run through a small light, and let the wire connect to the positive (basically a simple circuit), the light will shine.
However, let’s say instead of letting the wire connect to the positive side of the same battery, I let the wire attach to the positive side of a DIFFERENT battery. The result was that the light would not light up. In my understanding, shouldn’t a negatively charged terminal still emit electrons and enter into the positive side? Why does it matter that it’s a different battery?
Whew… so those are my 3 strongest mis-understandings that I cannot solve. Any help would be greatly appreciated… answering these long questions would be a feat in itself!
1. So a battery emits electrons from one terminal and into the other. The electrons START from the negative side and enter into the positive side… right? On all batteries, the electrons start from the negative (thus the reason why that specific terminal is called “negative”). But why do I keep reading from different places that electrons start from the positive? For example, this is what a specific website states: “The positive terminal of your battery can deliver dangerous amounts of current if it shorts to ground. This can be avoided easily.” (the specific quote is referring to car batteries and how you should always remove the negative terminal first). Isn’t the quote basically saying that the positive terminal emits the electrons?
Overall, I’m just confused with car batteries in general. The term “ground” also confuses me a lot. The automotive world keeps throwing around this term called “ground,” yet I don’t exactly understand what it means. Yes, I did have a basic understanding of the concept of grounding, but once I started getting deeper into the automotive world, I feel like I have no clue what grounding really means. People keep saying how it’s so important to remove the negative terminal first, yet I can’t understand why. Can someone solidify my misunderstandings?
2. Let’s say you have a car battery. If you attach a wire from the negative to the positive, the wire would probably get VERY hot, almost instantly (because there is no load/resistance). Thus, if you accidentally drop a wrench or something and it touches both terminals of the battery, a very dangerous event would ensue. Is my understanding correct?
Assuming my understanding is correct, can someone explain the concept of measuring a battery with a voltmeter? When measuring a battery with a meter, you would have to attach a positive probe to the positive terminal and a negative probe to the negative terminal. By doing this, isn’t the circuit complete? Why shouldn’t the voltmeter spontaneously explode and burst into flames?
3. I was playing with batteries and a small test-light yesterday, and I came across a puzzling event. So let’s say I have 1 AA battery (1.5V), wires, and a test-light. If I attach a wire to the negative side, and let the wire run through a small light, and let the wire connect to the positive (basically a simple circuit), the light will shine.
However, let’s say instead of letting the wire connect to the positive side of the same battery, I let the wire attach to the positive side of a DIFFERENT battery. The result was that the light would not light up. In my understanding, shouldn’t a negatively charged terminal still emit electrons and enter into the positive side? Why does it matter that it’s a different battery?
Whew… so those are my 3 strongest mis-understandings that I cannot solve. Any help would be greatly appreciated… answering these long questions would be a feat in itself!