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It might have been easier to understand if Benjamin Franklin had used the correct polarity for electrons. He made the proton positive, and the electrons negati

It might have been easier to understand if Benjamin Franklin had used the correct polarity for electrons. He made the proton positive, and the electrons negative. But this mistake became a historical embarrassment, but ultimately stuck, because the world was too entrenched in it. Instead, he should’ve made the proton as negative, and the electron as positive. Intuitively, this may have helped people understand how electricity flows better. An alien extraterrestrial society in a distant galaxy would probably be wondering why we have our electricity signs all backwards. Such as: why must we disconnect the negative cable from our car battery first?

function_seven 6y ago
I'm not sure flipping the assignments would have helped with understanding the flow of electrical energy. It might even re-enforce the common misconceptions being outlined in the article here. One, electrical energy does not flow from cathode to anode. Nor does it go the other way. The energy goes down both wires, from source to load. Two, it's an arbitrary decision if you want to talk about negative charges going east, or positive charges going west. They're equivalent when talking about a net-neutral wire. There are a lot of symmetries in the world that we break by arbitrary convention. The polarity of subatomic particles, the right-hand rule used in vector mathematics, the way bolts are threaded. The alien society might just use a "left-hand rule" for their magnetism and vector operations, and have clocks that turn opposite of ours (which probably means their planet orbits the opposite way?) As far as car batteries go, the reason to disconnect the (–) first is because it's almost always* the chassis ground. If you were to work on an ancient Volkswagen, then you'd be told to disconnect the (+) cable first. Disconnecting the other terminal first is more dangerous; your wrench is a perfect short circuiting tool! * And the reason we all use negative for chassis ground has to do with galvanic corrosion, I think?
- kqr 6y ago
  > One, electrical energy does not flow from cathode to anode. Nor does it go the other way. The energy goes down both wires, from source to load. And it doesn't even "do gown" "the wires" depending on what you mean by that. The energy flux is IIRC the product of E and B fields, which is non-zero only outside the wires. The wires, in a sense, only acts as a rough guide for the energy, which itself is transmitted through the air/non-conducting surrounding space, and (importantly for some applications) enters the load from its "sides", from the non-conducting space around it, not through the wires.
  - rpz 6y ago
    The insulators are the conductors :o

function_seven 6y ago

I'm not sure flipping the assignments would have helped with understanding the flow of electrical energy. It might even re-enforce the common misconceptions being outlined in the article here. One, electrical energy does not flow from cathode to anode. Nor does it go the other way. The energy goes down both wires, from source to load. Two, it's an arbitrary decision if you want to talk about negative charges going east, or positive charges going west. They're equivalent when talking about a net-neutral wire. There are a lot of symmetries in the world that we break by arbitrary convention. The polarity of subatomic particles, the right-hand rule used in vector mathematics, the way bolts are threaded. The alien society might just use a "left-hand rule" for their magnetism and vector operations, and have clocks that turn opposite of ours (which probably means their planet orbits the opposite way?) As far as car batteries go, the reason to disconnect the (–) first is because it's almost always* the chassis ground. If you were to work on an ancient Volkswagen, then you'd be told to disconnect the (+) cable first. Disconnecting the other terminal first is more dangerous; your wrench is a perfect short circuiting tool! * And the reason we all use negative for chassis ground has to do with galvanic corrosion, I think?

kqr 6y ago
> One, electrical energy does not flow from cathode to anode. Nor does it go the other way. The energy goes down both wires, from source to load. And it doesn't even "do gown" "the wires" depending on what you mean by that. The energy flux is IIRC the product of E and B fields, which is non-zero only outside the wires. The wires, in a sense, only acts as a rough guide for the energy, which itself is transmitted through the air/non-conducting surrounding space, and (importantly for some applications) enters the load from its "sides", from the non-conducting space around it, not through the wires.
- rpz 6y ago
  The insulators are the conductors :o