Return to Answer

There must be a complete circuit: a closed loop of flowing charges. But no electrons flow in electrolytes. The amperes inside the battery electrolyte are composed of flowing charged atoms; the lithium ions.

Of course this means that at one electrode surface, the +Li and the electrons are coming together and canceling out, forming neutral lithium atoms. And at the other electrode, Li atoms are donating extra electrons to the metal surface, then corroding away as +Li ions, and flowing off into the electrolyte as amperes of current.

Amperes are the coulombs of charge flowing per second. NOT just electrons flowing per second. The coulombs of charge can be ANY mobile charged particle, and conductive salts/acids/humans contain no mobile electrons to do the flowing. (Only electrons alone are flowing ...inside metal conductors. Instead make that solid, unmoving metal conductors. If your conductors are liquid metal, or are vibrating metal, then the protons within the positive metal ions are moving as well. For amperes made of pure electrons, your metal conductors must be both solid and static.)

Non-electron currents? They're extremely common. Whenever a human gets zapped by high voltage, no electrons flowed through their body. The amperes inside human tissue was made of flowing +Na, +K, -Cl, +H, OH ions only. And current in the ground (damp dirt) has no electrons, just ion-flows. And in lead-acid batteries, all the amperes within the battery acid are actually made of flowing protons! (Same thing happens inside fuel cells, where the electrolyte-layer is a proton conductor or "solid acid" material.)

If you find a textbook which claims that electrons flow through salt water or through acid, throw that book away! That single misconception is bad enough, but probably the same books has even worse mistakes. Once they get into your brain, you may never get them out again. Heh, even better, chop that book up before throwing it away, so it can never harm the mind of anyone who someday finds it in the trash...

Always there must be a complete circuit: a closed loop of flowing charges. But no electrons flow in electrolytes. The amperes inside the battery-electrolyte are composed of flowing charged atoms; the lithium ions.

Flows of positive charge are opposite that of electrons in wires. Of course this means that, inside the battery, at one electrode surface, the +Li and the electrons are coming together and canceling out, forming neutral lithium atoms. And at the other electrode, Li atoms are donating extra electrons to the metal surface, then corroding away as +Li ions, and flowing off into the electrolyte as amperes of current.

Amperes are the coulombs of charge flowing per second. NOT just electrons flowing per second. The coulombs of charge can be ANY mobile charged particle, and conductive salts/acids/humans contain no mobile electrons to do the flowing. (Only electrons alone are flowing ...inside metal conductors. Instead make that solid, unmoving metal conductors. If your conductors are liquid metal, or are vibrating metal, then the protons within the positive metal ions are moving as well. For amperes made of pure electrons, your metal conductors must be both solid and static.)

Non-electron currents? They're extremely common. Whenever a human gets zapped by high voltage, no electrons flowed through their body. The amperes inside human tissue was made of flowing +Na, +K, -Cl, +H, OH ions only. And current in the ground (damp dirt) has no electrons, just ion-flows. And in lead-acid batteries, all the amperes within the battery acid are actually made of flowing protons! (Same thing happens inside fuel cells, where the electrolyte-layer is a proton conductor or "solid acid" material.)

If you find a textbook which claims that electrons flow through salt water or through acid, throw that book away! That single misconception is bad enough, but probably the same books has even worse mistakes. Once they get into your brain, you may never get them out again. Heh, even better, chop that book up before throwing it away, so it can never harm the mind of anyone who someday finds it in the trash...

There must be a complete circuit: a closed loop of flowing charges. But no electrons flow in electrolytes. The amperes inside the battery electrolyte are composed of flowing charged atoms; the lithium ions.

Of course this means that at one electrode surface, the +Li and the electrons are coming together and canceling out, forming neutral lithium atoms. And at the other electrode, Li atoms are donating extra electrons to the metal surface, then corroding away as +Li ions, and flowing off into the electrolyte as amperes of current.

Amperes are the coulombs of charge flowing per second. NOT electrons flowing per second. The coulombs of charge can be any mobile charged particle, and conductive salts/acids/humans have no mobile electrons to flow. (Only electrons alone are flowing inside metal conductors. Make that solid, unmoving metal conductors. If your conductors are liquid metal, or are vibrating metal, then the protons within the positive metal ions are moving as well. For amperes made of pure electrons, your metal conductors must be both solid and static.)

Whenever a human gets zapped by high voltage, no electrons flowed through their body. The amperes inside human tissue was made of flowing +Na, +K, -Cl, +H, OH ions only. And in lead-acid batteries, all the amperes within the battery acid are made of flowing protons! (Same thing happens inside fuel cells, where the electrolyte-layer is a proton conductor or "solid acid" material.)

If you find a textbook which claims that electrons flow through salt water or through acid, throw that book away! That one misconception is bad enough, but it probably has even worse mistakes, and once they get into your brain, you may never get them out again. Heh, even better, chop that book up before throwing it away, so it can never harm the mind of anyone who someday finds it in the trash...

There must be a complete circuit: a closed loop of flowing charges. But no electrons flow in electrolytes. The amperes inside the battery electrolyte are composed of flowing charged atoms; the lithium ions.

Of course this means that at one electrode surface, the +Li and the electrons are coming together and canceling out, forming neutral lithium atoms. And at the other electrode, Li atoms are donating extra electrons to the metal surface, then corroding away as +Li ions, and flowing off into the electrolyte as amperes of current.

Amperes are the coulombs of charge flowing per second. NOT just electrons flowing per second. The coulombs of charge can be ANY mobile charged particle, and conductive salts/acids/humans contain no mobile electrons to do the flowing. (Only electrons alone are flowing ...inside metal conductors. Instead make that solid, unmoving metal conductors. If your conductors are liquid metal, or are vibrating metal, then the protons within the positive metal ions are moving as well. For amperes made of pure electrons, your metal conductors must be both solid and static.)

Non-electron currents? They're extremely common. Whenever a human gets zapped by high voltage, no electrons flowed through their body. The amperes inside human tissue was made of flowing +Na, +K, -Cl, +H, OH ions only. And current in the ground (damp dirt) has no electrons, just ion-flows. And in lead-acid batteries, all the amperes within the battery acid are actually made of flowing protons! (Same thing happens inside fuel cells, where the electrolyte-layer is a proton conductor or "solid acid" material.)

If you find a textbook which claims that electrons flow through salt water or through acid, throw that book away! That single misconception is bad enough, but probably the same books has even worse mistakes. Once they get into your brain, you may never get them out again. Heh, even better, chop that book up before throwing it away, so it can never harm the mind of anyone who someday finds it in the trash...

There must be a complete circuit: a closed loop of flowing charges. But no electrons flow in electrolytes. The amperes inside the battery electrolyte are composed of flowing charged atoms; the lithium ions.

Of course this means that at one electrode surface, the +Li and the electrons are coming together, forming solid lithium metal. And at the other electrode, Li atoms are donating extra electrons to the metal surface, then becoming +Li ions, and flowing off into the electrolyte as current.

Ampered are the coulombs of charge flowing per second. NOT electrons flowing per second. The coulombs of charge can be any mobile charged particle, and conductive salts/acids/humans have no mobile electrons to flow. (Only electrons alone are flowing inside metal conductors. Make that solid, unmoving metal conductors. If your conductors are liquid metal, or are vibrating metal, then the protons within the positive metal ions are moving as well. For amperes made of pure electrons, your metal conductors must be both solid and static.)

Whenever a human gets zapped by high voltage, no electrons flowed through their body. The amperes inside human tissue was made of flowing +Na, +K, -Cl, +H, OH ions only. And in lead-acid batteries, all the amperes within the battery acid are made of flowing protons! (Same thing happens inside fuel cells, where the electrolyte-layer is a proton conductor or "solid acid" material.)

If you find a textbook which claims that electrons flow through salt water or through acid, throw that book away! That one misconception is bad enough, but it probably has even worse mistakes, and once they get into your brain, you may never get them out again. Heh, even better, chop that book up before throwing it away, so it can never harm the mind of anyone who someday finds it in the trash...

There must be a complete circuit: a closed loop of flowing charges. But no electrons flow in electrolytes. The amperes inside the battery electrolyte are composed of flowing charged atoms; the lithium ions.

Of course this means that at one electrode surface, the +Li and the electrons are coming together and canceling out, forming neutral lithium atoms. And at the other electrode, Li atoms are donating extra electrons to the metal surface, then corroding away as +Li ions, and flowing off into the electrolyte as amperes of current.

Amperes are the coulombs of charge flowing per second. NOT electrons flowing per second. The coulombs of charge can be any mobile charged particle, and conductive salts/acids/humans have no mobile electrons to flow. (Only electrons alone are flowing inside metal conductors. Make that solid, unmoving metal conductors. If your conductors are liquid metal, or are vibrating metal, then the protons within the positive metal ions are moving as well. For amperes made of pure electrons, your metal conductors must be both solid and static.)

Whenever a human gets zapped by high voltage, no electrons flowed through their body. The amperes inside human tissue was made of flowing +Na, +K, -Cl, +H, OH ions only. And in lead-acid batteries, all the amperes within the battery acid are made of flowing protons! (Same thing happens inside fuel cells, where the electrolyte-layer is a proton conductor or "solid acid" material.)

If you find a textbook which claims that electrons flow through salt water or through acid, throw that book away! That one misconception is bad enough, but it probably has even worse mistakes, and once they get into your brain, you may never get them out again. Heh, even better, chop that book up before throwing it away, so it can never harm the mind of anyone who someday finds it in the trash...