Two paths. One stored possibility.: sources & model

Look through a phone, separate a battery’s layers, and trace two different journeys. One happens inside the cell. The other powers the world outside.

What supports the explanation?

What this model assumes

1. Generic graphite/LCO stacked pouch teaching cell. One representative neighboring electrode pair is expanded; dimensions, visible pores and carrier symbols are not to scale.
2. The 12-token ledger tracks selected lithium in two hosts, not all species, electrode stoichiometry, battery percentage or usable capacity. A matched transfer tally does not pair one particular electron with one particular ion.
3. No voltage/state-of-charge curve, diffusion rate, temperature, internal resistance, battery lifetime, charging-time or safety prediction is computed. The energy calculator is a separate constant-value example.
4. Changing direction commits only completed ledger steps. A transfer still in progress returns to its source. The teaching window does not represent an electrode becoming completely full or empty.
5. Original procedural teaching geometry; independently researched mechanism, with independent subject and learner review pending.
6. A selected inventory, not a battery percentage: We begin with 12 lithium tokens, six in each host. One completed discharge step transfers one selected lithium token and records one external electron equivalent. Graphite loses one; LCO gains one. Total selected lithium stays 12. The teaching window is three to nine graphite tokens. It is not a state-of-charge scale or a chemical capacity limit.
7. Charge, energy and their rates: Current is the rate of charge transfer: Q = I × time for a constant current. Power is the rate of energy transfer: P = V × I. At a supplied 3.7 V and 0.50 A for 120 s, Q = 60 C, P = 1.85 W and E = 222 J. Doubling the time doubles charge and energy, while this constant power stays the same.
8. Why mAh is not an energy unit: One ampere-hour is 3,600 coulombs. A nominal voltage multiplied by ampere-hours gives a nominal watt-hour estimate. A 3,000 mAh label alone does not tell you runtime, maximum power or exact recharge time. Actual terminal voltage and current vary with operating conditions.
9. Open circuit does not mean empty: Opening the external circuit stops sustained load current in this ideal model. A disconnected cell can still have terminal voltage and stored chemical energy. No net working-cycle transfer is shown; that does not mean microscopic particles stop moving. Self-discharge and relaxation are omitted.

What has been checked

Analytical reference cases, conservation or transition invariants, finite drawing commands, bounded setup parsing, discovery and route integrity are checked automatically. These checks do not establish anatomical fidelity, learner outcomes or browser/device compatibility. Independent subject review, learner trials, comprehensive accessibility review and browser video encoding checks remain pending.

Each source supports the associated claim. Sources do not certify this implementation or its visuals.

About the cover illustration

The topic card uses an AI-generated editorial illustration. It introduces the subject; it is not a validated anatomical reference or a measured landscape. The experiment’s diagrams, readouts and assumptions explain the model separately.