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Old 01-02-2018, 06:37 PM   #36
gruundehn
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Default Re: Accumulators: A concept for GURPS Spaceships

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth View Post
Batteries sort of store electrons, but they generate EMF.

(Though at sufficiently high current values it must be more complicated than that.)
Present-day chemical batteries can be thought of as having their own internal circuit - sort of, in a simplistic way. The electrons are stored, but the chemical action of the battery releases them at two levels. The low-level release rate is when there is no external circuit and thus the battery charge can last years, if not decades. If there is an external circuit, the battery releases a steady stream of electrons and the total circuit resistance opposes that release; thus, by Ohm's Law (E=IR or more accurately I=E/R) voltage happens. Any EMF generated is a byproduct of the fact that the battery is releasing electrons.
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