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A battery is simply a container that holds electron-producing chemicals. These chemical reactions that result in electron production are called electrochemical reactions. A battery has two terminals, plus or positive, and minus or negative. In small batteries such as AAA, AAA, C and D the end of the batter is the terminal. In a larger battery, such as a battery you have in your car, two lead posts are the terminals.
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The battery's
negative terminal is where the electrons gather. Connecting a wire
between the positive and negative terminals sends the electrons back
and forth very quickly and wears out your battery. The way the battery
process works generally is that you have some load on the battery by
means of the wire. The load can be a light bulk, a circuit such as a
radio or TV, or a motor.
A chemical reaction inside the battery is what produces electrons. The
internal resistance inside the battery (the speed of the chemical's
reactions to produce electrons) determines the number of electrons
that travel between terminals. Electrons flow into a wire from the
battery and then they must go from the negative to the positive
terminal in order for the chemicals to react and the battery to
generate any power.
This is the reason you can take your battery away from its load - its
car, radio, flashlight or other device - and lit it sit in a drawer or
on a shelf for months and still find that it has a good amount of
power once you reattach it to a load. The only thing that would drain
the power would be the electrons flowing between the positive and
negative terminals. This happens when you connect a wire and the
chemicals start to react in the battery......
Source:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/battery.htm
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