ELI5

4 readers

1 users here now

Explain it to me like I am 5. Everybody should know what this is about.

founded 1 year ago

ELI5: How does electricity actually transfer energy? (kbin.social)

submitted 1 year ago by D-ISS-O-CIA-TED@kbin.social to c/ELI5@kbin.social

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] skulblaka@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What stops a battery from just equalizing its own charge internally? By which I mean, why do the electrons have to go all the way around the circuit to get to the negative terminal?

[–] geoffervescent@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Batteries have an insulated separator between the positive and negative sides. They design the battery with a particular maximum voltage in mind, so they engineer it with a separator that is always a higher resistance. Thus the electrons will only be able to make the jump when a circuit with lower resistance is formed.

[–] D-ISS-O-CIA-TED@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

What would happen if that insulating barrier broke? Would the battery explode or just heat up or something?