The difference between a cell and a battery is explained below.
what is a cell?
A cell refers to a single power generating unit that tends to store chemical energy and later converts it to electrical energy. It consists of two electrodes which are anode and cathode. The cell consists of an electrolyte, which is a chemical substance which tends to react with the electrodes to produce an electric current.
Redox reactions tend to occur between the electrodes and the electrolyte. Because of this reaction, the electric current flows via an external circuit. A cell is generally classified into four different kinds. These are the dry cell, wet cell, fuel cell and reserve cell. The wet cell makes use of a liquid electrolyte and the dry cell makes use of a powder electrolyte.
what is battery?
A battery is a device that contains two or more units of the electrochemical cell. The cathode is the positive terminal of the battery and the anode is known as the negative terminal of the battery. There are two different types of batteries which are the primary and the secondary battery. The primary battery cannot be reused and is irreversible, whereas, on the other hand, the secondary battery can be recharged again and again. The chemical energy in a primary cell is present inherently. In the secondary cell, electrical energy is induced with the help of an external source.
The difference between a cell and a battery is explained below.
A cell is known as a single unit device that converts electrical energy to chemical energy, while a battery is a group of different cells.
A cell can be either of wet, dry, fuel or reserve type depending on the kind of electrolytes used, while a battery is either rechargeable or non-rechargeable.
Since the cell has only one unit, it is compact and light, while on the other hand, the battery has a combination of different cells that increase the battery size and makes it bulkier.
The power supply in the cell is for a short period of time, while the power supply in the battery is for a longer duration.
Cells are comparatively cheaper than the batteries.
Cells are generally used in lamps, clocks, etc., that do not need much energy, while batteries are used in inverters, automobiles, etc.