I am very new to electrical engineering, and one thing that has been bugging me is short circuits.
Main question:
When I have a circuit, how much current and voltage should be flowing back to my battery, safely (as not to short circuit, melt the wire, or damage components, or throw off voltage source equilibrium) with a load or resistance placed within the circuit?
I have recently spoken with a graduate electrical engineer (he has been out of the field for a while though) and he told me that if I have a circuit that allows voltage and current to flow back to the battery after resistance, then the battery will accumulate more voltage and current, thus sending more voltage and current back out to the circuit... This is also why a wire connecting both terminals of a battery with no resistance or any components that deplete the voltage and current will cause a short circuit. So am I supposed to design the circuit so that no voltage or current will be delivered back to the battery?
Example:
I guess a good example would be a circuit with a 5 Volt battery that has a 100 Ohm resistor and .05Amp (50 mA) current. Would this deliver voltage and current back to the battery after it passes through the resistor?
So then, in regards to the same example, if I have a 5 Volt Battery and .05 Amps flowing through the circuit, but a 50 Ohm resistor - would this short circuit?
Please let me know, as this has been bugging me a bit, and I think the issue is that i am thinking about it incorrectly...
I appreciate the help!