Question

Mustang sally just finished restoring her 1965 ford mustang car. to save money, she did not get a new battery. when she tries to start the car, she discovers that the battery is dead (an insufficient or zero voltage difference across the battery terminals) and so she will need a jump start. here is how she accomplishes the jump start: she connects a red jumper cable (wire) from the positive terminal of the dead battery to the positive terminal of a fully functional new battery. she connects one end of a black jumper cable to the negative terminal of the new battery. she then connects the other end of the black jumper cable to the negative terminal of the dead battery. the new battery (now in a parallel with the dead battery) is now part of the circuit and the car can be jump started. the car starter motor is effectively drawing current from the new battery. after the car with the dead battery is running, the cables can be disconnected in the reverse order that they were connected. while unhooking the jumper cables, the positive and negative cables almost touch and a spark jumps between the ends of the cables. this spark is caused by the movement of electrons through the air between the battery terminals. in what direction are the electrons traveling during the spark?

Answer 1

Electrons will travel from negative to positive direction during the spark

Step-by-step explanation:

There is strong electric field on both ends of the wires. Because of this electric field electrons want to travel towards the positive wire. Now what happens is there is air between both the wires and air have its own molecules and those molecules have electrons.

If the electric field between the wires is strong enough it rips the electrons of air and those are now free electrons and would also want to travel towards the positive end of the wire. When electrons move a lot of heat is generated and when electrons heat up they glow. This glow is the spark that appears in the air.