What is a Battery?
A battery is a device used to store energy for when we need it. We use them to power small electrical devices such as flashlights. The energy is stored as chemical energy and this can be turned into electrical energy when we need it. We’ll see how that works a little later in the article.
If we look at a simple battery and lamp circuit. To illuminate the lamp we need electrons to flow through it. The battery is going to provide the pushing force which allows the electrons to flow through the lamp. We simply need to connect the lamp across the positive and negative terminals of the battery to complete the circuit. The battery can only push the electrons for a certain amount of time though, this time depends on how much energy is stored inside the battery and how much is demanded by the load.
When we talk about load in an electrical circuit we mean any components which require electricity to work, these could be things like resistors, L.E.D’s, DC motors or even entire circuit boards. Some batteries can be recharged and it will clearly state this on the side, but the typical household alkaline battery can’t, so this is simply disposed of when it runs out of energy. These can be recycled, so ensure you dispose of them responsibly.
Leave a Reply