The beginning of cells

Alessandro Volta invented electric battery. It was first named as Voltaic Pile. For his
contributions to science, the unit of electric potential is named as Volt. John Frederic Daniell
developed Daniell cell. Then George Leclanche invented Wet cell and Dr. Carl Gassner
introduced the Dry cell battery. Gaston Plante introduced the first rechargeable battery. It is
the lead-acid battery and is again most common application found in cars.

Cell

A cell is a device that uses chemical energy to generate electricity and maintains the flow of
charge in a circuit. The energy is obtained from the chemical reactions that take place within
these cells. Cells are commonly referred to as batteries, which are an essential day to day
product required for a number of tasks. It is important to note that a battery is a collection of
cells.

Every cell has two terminals namely:

1. Anode: Anode is the terminal from where the current flows in from out i.e.
it provides an incoming channel for the current to enter the circuit or the
device.
2. Cathode: Cathode is the terminal from where the current flows out i.e. it
provides an outgoing current flow from the circuit or the device.

Series and Parallel Connections

There are mainly two types of circuits, series and parallel. Cells can be connected both in
series, parallel or a combination of both. In series circuit electrons travel only in one path.
Here the current will be the same which passes through each resistor. The voltage across
resistors in a series connection will be different. Series circuits do not overheat easily. The
design of series circuit is simple compared to parallel circuits.
https://collegedunia.com/exams/combination-of-cells-in-series-and-in-parallel-physics-
articleid-34
In parallel circuit electrons travel through many branches in it. In this case, the voltage
remains the same across each resistor in the circuit. Here the current in the circuit is divided
among each branch and finally recombines when the branches meet at a common point. A
parallel circuit can be formed in many ways, which means cells can be arranged in different
forms. Parallel circuits can be used as a current divider. It is easy to connect or disconnect a
new cell or other component without affecting the other elements in the parallel circuit. But it
uses a lot of wires and hence becomes complex.
 
Combination of Cells in Series Connection
Consider two cells which is connected in series. The positive terminal of one cell is
connected to negative terminal of the next cell. Here one terminal of two cells are free and
the other terminal of two cells are joined together. ε 1  and ε 2   are the emfs of the cells and
r 1  and r 2  are the internal resistance of the cells respectively. Let I be the current flowing
through the cells.

Consider the points A, B and C and let V (A), V (B) and V (C) be the potentials of these
points respectively.  V (A) - V (B) will be the potential difference between the positive and
negative terminals for the first cell.

So V AB  = V (A) - V (B) = ε 1 - Ir 1.

V BC  = V (B) - V (C) = ε 2  – Ir 2.
Now the potential difference between the terminals A and C is

V AC   = V (A) – V(C) = [V (A) - V (B)] + V (B) - V (C)]

= ε 1 - Ir 1  + ε 2  – Ir 2
= ( ε 1  + ε 2 ) – I(r 1 +r 2 ).
In case if we replace this combination of cells by a single cell between the points A and C
with emf ε eq  and internal resistance r eq,  V AC  = ε eq  - r eq . and thus we found out that  ε eq  = ε 1  +
ε 2   and r eq  = r 1 +r 2  from the previous equation.
It is clear that the equivalent emf of n number of cells in series combination is the sum of
their individual emfs. The equivalent internal resistance of n cells in series combination is
the sum of their individual internal resistance.

In series combination if the current leaves the cell from the negative electrode, the emf of
the cell will be for example V BC  = - ε 2  – Ir 2  and finally the equation for ε eq  = ε 1  - ε 2 , (ε 1  > ε 2 ).
Advantages and Disadvantages of cells connected in series:
The cells connected in series produces a greater resultant voltage. The cells which are
damaged can be easily identified and hence can be replaced easily as they break the circuit.

If any one of the cell is damaged in the circuit, it may affect the whole connection. The cells
which are connected in series gets easily exhausted and so they do not last longer. It is not
used in house wiring.
Combination of Cells in Parallel Connection
Consider two cells which is connected in parallel. Here the positive terminals of all cells are
connected together and negative terminals of all cells are connected together. In parallel
connection, the current is divided among the braches. Thus, the current I is split into I 1  and
I 2.  I = I 1  + I 2.   Consider the points B 1  and B 2  and then V (B 1 ) and V (B 2 ) are the potentials
respectively. The potential difference across the terminals of the first cell.

V = V (B 1 ) - V (B 2 ) = ε 1 - I 1  r 1.  The point B 1  and B 2   are connected similar to the second cell.
V = V (B 1 ) - V (B 2 ) = ε 2  – I 2  r 2 . By ohm’s law we know that I = V / R. Now substitute these
values in the equation

If we replace the cells by a single cell lying between the point B 1  and B 2  with emf ε eq   and
internal resistance r eq , then V = ε eq  - Ir eq .

It is the same as when we connect the resistors in parallel connection.

For n number of cells connected in parallel with emf ε 1,  ε 2……  ε n   and internal resistance r 1 , r 2….  r n
Advantages and Disadvantages of Cells Connected in Parallel:
For the cells connected in parallel if any one of the cell is damaged in the circuit, it will not
affect the whole connection. The cells which are connected in parallel do not exhaust easily
and thus they last longer.

The voltage developed by the cells in parallel connection cannot be increased by increasing
the number of cells present in the circuit. It is because they do not have same circular path.
In parallel connection the connection provides power based on one cell. So the brightness of
the bulb will not be high.
https://collegedunia.com/exams/combination-of-cells-in-series-and-in-parallel-physics-articleid-34

https://www.askiitians.com/iit-jee-electric-current/cells-in-series-and-in-parallel/

https://byjus.com/physics/batteries-in-series-parallel/

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/combination-of-cells-in-series-and-parallel/