Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: scientizscht on 25/11/2019 19:43:09

Title: What happens if an electrode acquires electrons?
Post by: scientizscht on 25/11/2019 19:43:09

Hello!

Can you tell me please what is the natural evolution of an electrode that acquires electrons?

I assume that:
1) the electrodes ability to acquire more electrons is reduced due to being gradually charged negatively more and more
2) the electrode will be charged negatively at the point of the electron acquisition but these electrons will move to other points of the electrode as they are mutually repulsed so that the charge of the electrode will diffuse from the point of the electron acqusition to the total mass of the electrode

Are these phenomena what is really happening?
Is there anything else?

Thanks!

Title: Re: What happens if an electrode acquires electrons?
Post by: chiralSPO on 25/11/2019 20:47:53

Quote from: scientizscht on 25/11/2019 19:43:09

1) the electrodes ability to acquire more electrons is reduced due to being gradually charged negatively more and more
2) the electrode will be charged negatively at the point of the electron acquisition but these electrons will move to other points of the electrode as they are mutually repulsed so that the charge of the electrode will diffuse from the point of the electron acqusition to the total mass of the electrode

This is fairly close to true... just replace "gradually" with "quickly"! It doesn't take many electrons to saturate the electrode.

Title: Re: What happens if an electrode acquires electrons?
Post by: Bored chemist on 26/11/2019 00:14:05

Ordinarily the electrode passes the electrons on to some sort of circuit.