Re: Do electrons repel each other from the negative terminal of a battery?

Question: Do electrons repel each other from the negative terminal of a battery?
Area: Physics Message ID Number: 1285582888.Ph

Greeting Steve:

Reference: Basic Electricity and DC Circuits,
R. A. Oliva, C. W. Dale,
Texas Instruments Learning Center, 1979

We know that like electrical charges repel each other and opposite charges attract each other. Electrons in the outer valence band of conductor atoms are so weakly bound to the positive charged nucleus of the atoms, that the charge from any free electron can push a valence electron away from the atom and take its place making it a free electron. The free electron will then do the same thing to the next atom it encounters and the process continues over and over in nanoseconds until all of the free electrons stack up as far from the negative terminal of the battery as they can.

A battery is an electron pump and we call the electron pressure in the wire the voltage. The negative terminal of the battery pumps electrons out at near the speed of light repelling free electrons away toward the end of the wire until the wire cannot support any more electrons and the flow stops. We call this movement of free electrons the electrical current which is measured in amperes (amps). Thus we can measure the battery voltage between the positive terminal of the battery and the end of the wire or at any point along the electron-filled wire. These electrons, which came from chemical reactions in a typical battery, produce a positive battery terminal which can attract the negative electrons out of the wire when the wire circuit is completed.

In 1746 there was a classic electrical experiment conducted in France for King Louis the XV and his court by the Abbett Nolett to measure the speed of electricity. For the experiment the Abbett had a mile of monks each holding short wires between their hands and placed the hand of one monk on the negative terminal of a several thousand volt battery called a Lyden Jar. The electrons moved through the monks to the last monk in the mile long chain. When the last monk was told to put his hand on the positive terminal of the battery, all of the shocked monks jumped simultaneously. Thus the bishop said to the King, the speed of electricity is infinite!
Thank you for your interesting question.

Best regards, Your Mad Scientist
Adrian Popa