George Willer wrote:Rudi,
I know it's confusing. For whatever reason electrons were arbitrarily assigned a negative potential. The electrons (negative) flow from the cathode toward the positive (anode) terminal. That's counter intuitive, but that's the convention. In our electrolysis tanks the flow is from the work (negative: Cathode as in cathode ray tube) toward the anode (positive, with too few electrons)
I'll bet I just made it more confusing, sorry but it's been 56 years since I studied this stuff!
and to clarify....the cathode and anode are BOTH electrodes. For further info.... check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrode