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electron/conventional theory - which way does electrons actually flow in a car battery?
Ok, I'm confused about what I keep being told when I ask car mechanics about the jumpering of car batteries. I am hoping someone can help me with understanding which way electrons are actually going to flow from one terminal of the car battery to the other.
Now if I remember correctly from each electricity book I've ever read. The positive side of the battery has less electrons and wants to receive electrons. This is the electron theory correct? That the flow of electrons will travel from the negative side to the positive side. The conventional, I believe, was the other way around; that that's how engineers were drawing up their circuits showing diodes pointing the opposite direction or some such reasons.
Okies, what I would think is happening with the car battery would be like any other battery. The positive would still be wanting electrons to balance out the battery. The electrons are going to jump along any jumper attached between the two terminals of the battery, then the solution within the battery will pull electrons back over to the negative side creating an overload on the negative and a shortage on the positive thus repeating the cycle.
Ok, I know that's not all of what's going on but I am trying to avoid writing a book here. Sorry, so long as it is...
Every mechanic I talk to keeps telling me no. That electricity is being pushed out of the positive terminal of the good battery to the positive of the dead battery. Then it travels along the frame of the car's body until it gets to the negative jumper that's attached to the car's metal frame. It then jumpers from that through that battery cable jumper to the negative of the good battery.
This is how I actually jump cars, I attach both positives of the batteries but I don't attach the negatives to each other. I attach the good battery's negative(via a jumper cable) to the metal framework of the car.
I would have guessed before that the negative of the good battery would push the electrons out and find a path to the positive. But the confusion lies in that the positives are connected to each other. How/Why do electrons travel from one positive terminal to another? I can see how electrons will travel through the jumper, then through the framework to find a connection to the positive. But then the positive to positive has me flustered. I know I've hooked up a negative terminal in the past to another negative terminal and had that work to jump a car, well, until I found out it was very bad practice to do it that way because the spark that occurs from the jumper touching the negative terminal could cause battery leakage to ignite.
I'm hoping someone can help me think this one through.
Thanks in advance for your time.
EDIT:
See this picture someone posted for me on another forum. Why can a positive side of a battery directly to a negative side not cause a direct short and damage the batteries or cause an explosion?
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b314/andrew2022/batteries.jpg
Ok, I'm confused about what I keep being told when I ask car mechanics about the jumpering of car batteries. I am hoping someone can help me with understanding which way electrons are actually going to flow from one terminal of the car battery to the other.
Now if I remember correctly from each electricity book I've ever read. The positive side of the battery has less electrons and wants to receive electrons. This is the electron theory correct? That the flow of electrons will travel from the negative side to the positive side. The conventional, I believe, was the other way around; that that's how engineers were drawing up their circuits showing diodes pointing the opposite direction or some such reasons.
Okies, what I would think is happening with the car battery would be like any other battery. The positive would still be wanting electrons to balance out the battery. The electrons are going to jump along any jumper attached between the two terminals of the battery, then the solution within the battery will pull electrons back over to the negative side creating an overload on the negative and a shortage on the positive thus repeating the cycle.
Ok, I know that's not all of what's going on but I am trying to avoid writing a book here. Sorry, so long as it is...
Every mechanic I talk to keeps telling me no. That electricity is being pushed out of the positive terminal of the good battery to the positive of the dead battery. Then it travels along the frame of the car's body until it gets to the negative jumper that's attached to the car's metal frame. It then jumpers from that through that battery cable jumper to the negative of the good battery.
This is how I actually jump cars, I attach both positives of the batteries but I don't attach the negatives to each other. I attach the good battery's negative(via a jumper cable) to the metal framework of the car.
I would have guessed before that the negative of the good battery would push the electrons out and find a path to the positive. But the confusion lies in that the positives are connected to each other. How/Why do electrons travel from one positive terminal to another? I can see how electrons will travel through the jumper, then through the framework to find a connection to the positive. But then the positive to positive has me flustered. I know I've hooked up a negative terminal in the past to another negative terminal and had that work to jump a car, well, until I found out it was very bad practice to do it that way because the spark that occurs from the jumper touching the negative terminal could cause battery leakage to ignite.
I'm hoping someone can help me think this one through.
Thanks in advance for your time.
EDIT:
See this picture someone posted for me on another forum. Why can a positive side of a battery directly to a negative side not cause a direct short and damage the batteries or cause an explosion?
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b314/andrew2022/batteries.jpg
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