CERN is clueless, science is confused

reply to post by OccamAssassin


I do understand now what you are getting at with Kirchhoff's Law. With your battery or solar cell the number of electrons remain the same, they just move from the anode to the cathode and keeps the particle count of the circuit constant. With a battery this results in a flat battery, but with the solar cell the electrons just go around the circuit again as long as there is light.

So what about the crystal radio? The antenna is the anode and the ground the cathode, this is not the typical closed circuit. There is a flow of electrons from the antenna to the ground so how does the antenna resupply it's electrons?

Originally posted by kwakakev
reply to post by OccamAssassin

 

I do understand now what you are getting at with Kirchhoff's Law. With your battery or solar cell the number of electrons remain the same, they just move from the anode to the cathode and keeps the particle count of the circuit constant. With a battery this results in a flat battery, but with the solar cell the electrons just go around the circuit again as long as there is light.

Kirchhoff's Laws show that the circuit must be complete to allow the electrons to flow and "impart" their charge on the elements of the circuit.
A battery works the same as the photovoltaic panel/cell in that the electrons are given enough charge to dislodge them and keep the circuit operating. The only real difference is that the electrolyte of the battery is what imparts the charge instead of the EM wave as in a solar cell.

So what about the crystal radio? The antenna is the anode and the ground the cathode, this is not the typical closed circuit. There is a flow of electrons from the antenna to the ground so how does the antenna resupply it's electrons?

A crystal radio antenna is a coil wound around a ferrite rod.