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An anode is an electrode through which conventional current flows into a polarized electrical device. A common mnemonic is ACID for "anode current into device". 〔http://www.av8n.com/physics/anode-cathode.htm#sec-def〕 The direction of (positive) electric current is opposite to the direction of electron flow: (negatively charged) electrons flow out the anode to the outside circuit. The polarity of voltage on an anode with respect to an associated cathode varies depending on the device type and on its operating mode. In the following examples, the anode is negative in a device that provides power, and positive in a device that consumes power: * In a discharging battery or galvanic cell (diagram at right), the anode is the negative terminal because it is where current flows into "the device" (i.e. the battery cell). This inward current is carried externally by electrons moving outwards, negative charge flowing in one direction being electrically equivalent to positive charge flowing in the opposite direction. * In a recharging battery, or an electrolytic cell, the anode is the positive terminal, which receives current from an external generator. The current through a recharging battery is opposite to the direction of current during discharge; in other words, the electrode which was the cathode during battery discharge becomes the anode while the battery is recharging. * In a diode, the anode is the positive terminal at the tail of the arrow symbol (flat side of the triangle), where current flows into the device. Note electrode naming for diodes is always based on the direction of the forward current (that of the arrow, in which the current flows "most easily"), even for types such as Zener diodes or solar cells where the current of interest is the reverse current. * In a cathode ray tube, the anode is the positive terminal where electrons flow out of the device, i.e., where positive electric current flows in. ==Etymology== The word was coined in 1834 from the Greek ἄνοδος (''anodos''), 'ascent', by William Whewell, who had been consulted by Michael Faraday over some new names needed to complete a paper on the recently discovered process of electrolysis. In that paper Faraday explained that when an electrolytic cell is oriented so that electric current traverses the "decomposing body" (electrolyte) in a direction "from East to West, or, which will strengthen this help to the memory, that in which the sun appears to move", the anode is where the current enters the electrolyte, on the East side: "''ano'' upwards, ''odos'' a way ; the way which the sun rises" (,〔 (in which Faraday introduces the words ''electrode'', ''anode'', ''cathode'', ''anion'', ''cation'', ''electrolyte'', ''electrolyze'')〕 reprinted in ). The use of 'East' to mean the 'in' direction (actually 'in' → 'East' → 'sunrise' → 'up') may appear contrived. Previously, as related in the first reference cited above, Faraday had used the more straightforward term "eisode" (the doorway where the current enters). His motivation for changing it to something meaning 'the East electrode' (other candidates had been "eastode", "oriode" and "anatolode") was to make it immune to a possible later change in the direction convention for current, whose exact nature was not known at the time. The reference he used to this effect was the Earth's magnetic field direction, which at that time was believed to be invariant. He fundamentally defined his arbitrary orientation for the cell as being that in which the internal current would run parallel to and in the same direction as a hypothetical magnetizing current loop around the local line of latitude which would induce a magnetic dipole field oriented like the Earth's. This made the internal current East to West as previously mentioned, but in the event of a later convention change it would have become West to East, so that the East electrode would not have been the 'way in' any more. Therefore "eisode" would have become inappropriate, whereas "anode" meaning 'East electrode' would have remained correct with respect to the unchanged direction of the actual phenomenon underlying the current, then unknown but, he thought, unambiguously defined by the magnetic reference. In retrospect the name change was unfortunate, not only because the Greek roots alone do not reveal the anode's function any more, but more importantly because as we now know, the Earth's magnetic field direction on which the "anode" term is based is subject to reversals whereas the current direction convention on which the "eisode" term was based has no reason to change in the future. Since the later discovery of the electron, an easier to remember and more durably correct technically although historically false, etymology has been suggested: anode, from the Greek ''anodos'', 'way up', 'the way (up) out of the cell (or other device) for electrons'. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Anode」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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