Editing Electromotive force (section)

==History==
In 1801, [[Alessandro Volta]] introduced the term "force motrice électrique" to describe the active agent of a battery (which he had invented around 1798).<ref>
{{cite journal
 |journal     = Annales de Chimie
 |publisher   = Chez Fuchs, Paris
 |year        = 1801
 |url         = https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65721573
 |title       = De l'électricité dite galvanique
 |first      = Alessandro|last=Volta
}}</ref>
This is called the "electromotive force" in English.

Around 1830, [[Michael Faraday]] established that chemical reactions at each of two electrode–electrolyte interfaces provide the "seat of emf" for the voltaic cell. That is, these reactions drive the current and are not an endless source of energy as the earlier [[Superseded theories in science|obsolete theory]] thought.<ref name=cajori/> In the open-circuit case, charge separation continues until the electrical field from the separated charges is sufficient to arrest the reactions. Years earlier, [[Alessandro Volta]], who had measured a contact potential difference at the metal–metal (electrode–electrode) interface of his cells, held the incorrect opinion that contact alone (without taking into account a chemical reaction) was the origin of the emf. It is independent of size of the cell but depends on the nature of the electrolyte used.