Primary Battery
A battery that cannot be reused by any means when the battery has delivered all of its electrical energy.

Secondary Battery
A secondary type battery is that can be charged, recharged and reused many times.

Cathode
An electrochemical cell where reduction takes place. The positive electrode of the cell is the cathode when discharge, whereas the negative electrode is the cathode when charge.

Anode
An electrochemical cell where oxidation takes place. The negative electrode of the cell is the anode during discharge, whereas the positive electrode is the anode when charge.

Electrolyte
A medium which allows the ions to be transported between the positive and negative poles of a cell.

Carbon/Zinc
A primary battery commonly used in low drain consumer applications (i.e.: clocks, calculators, garage door openers, etc.), it usually with cathode of manganese dioxide and anode of zinc.

Alkaline
A primary battery often used in electronics applications requiring heavy currents for long periods of time (i.e.: CD players, radios, etc.), and usually with cathode and anode same to carbon/zinc battery. But alkaline batteries can deliver 50-100% more total energy than conventional Carbon/Zinc batteries of the same size, hence their popularity in consumer applications.

Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMh)
A material that can be interchangeable with most Ni-Cd batteries, nickel metal hydride (NiMh) batteries generally deliver 10-25% greater capacity than NiCds and are environmentally more friendly than Ni-Cds since they do not contain cadmium.

Nickel Cadmium
One of the materials widely used rechargeable batteries, and contains cadmium and has relatively low capacity when compared to other rechargeable systems. Very good high rate discharge capabilities make them very popular in high drain applications such as power tools.

Capacity
The amount of energy of a battery in total number of ampere-hours (mAh) that can be withdrawn from a fully charged cell or battery under specified conditions of discharge.

Amp Hour (mAh)
Energy unit of a battery in number of milliamperes that can continually supply to a load in one hour.