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Question

Question: A longer line in the symbol for a cell represents its……………. (negative, positive) terminal....

A longer line in the symbol for a cell represents its……………. (negative, positive) terminal.

Explanation

Solution

An electrical cell is a device that provides an electrical current. This electrical current is used only to run small devices like a torch, clocks, cameras, radios, etc. It will store chemical energy and this energy will be converted into electrical potential energy. This happens by allowing positive charges to flow from the positive terminal to the negative terminal.

Complete step by step solution:
An electrical cell has two terminals. One of which is the positive terminal and the other one is the negative terminal. The positive terminal is usually represented by a longer line and the negative terminal is usually represented by the shorter line. Therefore the answer to the above question is a long line in the symbol for a cell that represents its positive terminal.

Additional Information:
The cell is a unit structure used to generate electrical current. For example, if we take a solar cell it consists of a semiconductor junction that converts sunlight directly into electricity. There are two types of cells: primary or voltaic cells and secondary cells. A primary cell is the one that produces electricity by means of a chemical reaction but they are not rechargeable to a greater extent. The conventional dry cell used in flashlights is a primary cell. Secondary cells are rechargeable. Examples of these types of secondary cells include emergency no-fail and standby power sources, aircraft systems, and stationary energy storage systems for load-leveling.

Note:
But we usually assume that these positively charged objects will only move around an electrical circuit. But that’s not true. Any charged particles will do this job. Positive charges will travel in one way, negatively charged particles (like electrons) will travel in the other direction. When we talk about the direction of the current, we refer to the direction a positive charge would travel.