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/i lek"trohd/, n. Elect.a conductor, not necessarily metallic, through which a current enters or leaves a nonmetallic medium, as an electrolytic cell, arc generator, vacuum tube, or gaseous discharge tube.[1825-35; ELECTR- + -ODE2]
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Electric conductor, usually metal, used as one of two terminals to conduct electric current through a conducting medium.A simple voltaic cell, or battery, consists of two electrodes, usually one zinc and one copper, immersed in an electrolytic solution (see electrolyte). When a chemical reaction occurs in the solution, electrons gather on the zinc electrode, or cathode, which becomes negatively charged. At the same time, electrons are drawn from the copper electrode, the anode, giving it a positive charge. The difference in charge sets up a potential difference, or voltage, between the two electrodes. When they are connected by a conducting wire, electrons flow from the cathode to the anode, producing a current.* * *
electric conductor, usually metal, used as either of the two terminals of an electrically conducting medium; it conducts current into and out of the medium, which may be an electrolytic solution as in a storage battery, or a solid, gas, or vacuum. The electrode from which electrons emerge is called the cathode and is designated as negative; the electrode that receives electrons is called the anode and is designated as positive. In an electron tube, the anode is called the plate, and conducting elements that regulate the electron flow inside the tube are also called electrodes.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
