The invention of the battery can be dated back to 250B.C. in Baghdad, Iraq where it was used in a process to electroplate objects with a thin layer of metal just like how gold and jewelry are plated today. From 1780 to about 1786, Luigi Galvani observed that when pieces of iron and brass are connected to frog’s legs, he got them to twitch. This started the interest in what was known as voltaic electricity, after Alessandro Volta. From 1796-1799 he experimented with such elements as Zinc and Silver and invented what was known as the fi

Now that we know where the battery has originated, it is important to know how the battery works. A battery consists of one or more electrochemical cells. Cells are considered the main unit of which batteries are constructed. A cell is equipped with four general components. It has a positive electrode that receives electrons from the external circuit when the cell is discharged (Anode), a negative electrode that gives electrons to the external circuit(Cathode), an Electrolyte (any substance that conducts an electric current between the anode and cathode of the battery), which provides a mechanism for charge to flow between positive and negative electrodes, and a separator, which isolates each charge. When a battery is inserted into a circuit, a charge flows around the circuit in a loopy pattern. Electrons result in electrical current on the outer part of the circuit while the charge flows in the form of ions (compounds or atoms that have either lost electrons making them positively charged or gained electrons making them negatively charged) that are moved from one electron to the other in the internal part of the cell. The positive electrode receives electrons from the external circuit on discharge. These electrons react with the positive electrode in Reduction (opposite of oxidation). At the sight of the negative electrode, Oxidation reactions between the active materials of the negative electrode and the charge flowing through the electrolyte results in surplus electrons that will be given to the external circuit. One key thing to keep in mind is that the battery system is closed. This is important because for every electron that is generated at the negative electrode due to oxidation, there is one electron consumed in the reduction process of the positive electrode. As this

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