Cathode

Physics Concepts and Laws

A cathode is an electrode from which conventional current leaves a polarized electrical device, such as a lead-acid battery. Conventional current is the direction in which positive charges move. Because electrons have negative charge, their movement is opposite to conventional current, so electrons flow from the external circuit into a device's cathode. In a household battery, the terminal marked with a plus sign is the cathode. The opposite electrode is the anode.

Electrode role: Conventional current leaves the device through it
Electron flow: Electrons flow into the cathode from the external circuit
Household battery: The plus-marked end is the cathode

Sources and credits

Article: Cathode (English Wikipedia)
Wikidata: Q175233
Text: Card text is adapted from the English Wikipedia article by an automated summary. Wikipedia content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for its contributors. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Article history and contributors
Illustration: By Original work:File:Zinc anode 2.png by User:MichelJullian (talk) Derivative work: KES47 (talk). CC BY-SA 3.0 · File page on Wikimedia Commons
Original work:File:Zinc anode 2.png by User:MichelJullian (talk) Derivative work: KES47 (talk), File:Copper cathode 2.png
Modifications: Placed on a plain background, resized and converted to WebP
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