Can somebody please explain polarity for me,?

Question

im on my first year at college doing an electrician course, could somebody please explain what polarity is and how to test is, please make it simple so i can understand clearly, everyother website goes on about is jiberish and i need to find out soon what it is

Answer 1

There are two different kinds of charge (not technically correct, but good enough for this), positive and negative.

Current flows from the positive (or plus) to the negative (or minus).

You can test it with a voltmeter, which has a plus and minus terminal. If you put the plus lead to one battery terminal and the minus lead to the other, and the meter reads plus, then you have it right, the battery terminal with the plus lead is the positive terminal.

In reality, negative charge is an excess of electrons, and positive charge is a deficit of electrons, and current is the electrons flowing to even out this deficit/excess.

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