2

Making some researches to answer my last post, I found this article.
It explains that when a piece of zinc and a piece of copper are connected with a conductor, since copper is more elctronegative than zinc, electrons start to flow form zinc to copper till too many electrons has reached the piece of copper and they start to repel the others. Is this explanation accurate?
Can you generalize this observation for other elements connected through a conductor?
Does it work for solid and liquids?

**EDIT:
I'm not stating that there will be an electricity flow, I'm asking if there is an amount of electrons that will converge from the zinc to the copper. Even if it happens for a millisecond.

Community
  • 1
Gabriele Scarlatti
  • 613
  • 4
  • 14
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaic_pile – Gert Dec 05 '17 at 20:23
  • 1
    Well, your elements should be conductive to begin with, otherwise they'll have no idea they are connected with a wire. Then again, you can simply rub them against each other. Triboelectric effect is a pretty broad thing, it is not limited to elements. – Ivan Neretin Dec 05 '17 at 20:55
  • https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/20084/why-do-electrons-leave-the-zinc-in-a-galvanic-cell – Mithoron Dec 05 '17 at 22:15
  • Also I'm quite disappointed with quality of the blog, on scientificamerican domain no less, which you linked it's self contradictory and you pulled one of worst things from it. – Mithoron Dec 05 '17 at 22:19
  • @Mithoron I've no strong background in chemistry, as I stated in the post. I'm here to discuss the accuracy of what was reported in the article and as often I get downvoted without explanation. This site is becoming hell for who's not an expert in the field. Even showing your researches and effort doesn't help anymore. – Gabriele Scarlatti Dec 05 '17 at 22:28
  • Well, I told why I I downvoted... Also if you hover cursor over downvote button you can see typical reasons. You made research but it lead you astray. If there's no closed circuit there's no current, that's it. There may be electric potential, but it doesn't mean electricity flows. – Mithoron Dec 05 '17 at 23:05
  • @Mithoron I don't see how "You made research but it lead you astray" is in any way a reason to downvote. Researches are made to learn, you don't make researches on what you know, so how I am supposed to know that the "Scientific American" is leading me astray? Moreover you could have just answered the question with the last few lines of your comment, it would have been much more helpful – Gabriele Scarlatti Dec 06 '17 at 11:26
  • 1
    @Mithoron I have to agree with Gabriele. Without a chemical background, its tough to know whether or not a resource like this is trust worthy and it seems harsh to down vote for being confused by what I imagine many outside chemistry would consider a reasonable source. – Tyberius Dec 06 '17 at 15:37
  • Question on hold with no explanation from anyone who decided to put the question on hold. Please explain how the question is unclear in order for me to edit it, because for me it's very clear what's being asked. – Gabriele Scarlatti Dec 06 '17 at 15:49
  • @Tyberius Downvote should be treated just like upvote - nothing special. Without downvotes why people would even strive to make better questions? Upvotes are more or less random and all too often reflect rather "popularity" then quality. – Mithoron Dec 06 '17 at 15:51
  • @Mithoron Strange conception of how the site works. Popularity is the most important index for questions, since it expresses the interest of the community. Quality is the most important index not for questions, but for answers. – Gabriele Scarlatti Dec 06 '17 at 16:06

0 Answers0