Question

In an LED, the longer lead is always connected to the ______ terminal of the battery and the shorter lead is connected to the _____ terminal of the cell (or battery)
(A) Positive, negative
(B) Negative, positive
(C) Positive, neutral
(D) Neutral, positive

Answer 1

Hint:LED is provided with two terminals: cathode and anode. Cathode is connected to the negative terminals of the battery and anode is connected to the positive terminal of the battery. The LED is provided with longer and shorter leads for their identification.

Complete step by step answer:
We know that LED has two terminals. One is cathode which is connected to the negative terminals of the battery and other is anode connected to the positive terminal of the battery. The LED is provided with longer and shorter leads for their identification. The slightly longer lead is known as anode which should be connected to the positive terminal of the battery while the shorter one is known as cathode and it should be connected to the negative terminal as we have discussed above.

Therefore, In an LED, the longer lead is always connected to the positive terminal of the battery and the shorter lead is connected to the negative terminal of the cell.

Additional information:
LED is an abbreviation of Light Emitting Diode is a semiconductor diode that emits light when we supply current through it. Since it is the semiconductor diode, the electrons and holes recombine and release energy in the form of light. In everyday life, we see different colors of LED’s in the market. The different colored LEDs can be manufactured by using different semiconductor materials with different energy band gaps. The band gap in the semiconductor defines its wavelength of light emitting from the material.

Note:You should never connect the LED directly to the power supply because the power rating of LED’s is very small. LEDs should always be connected in series with a resistor. Since the LED is diode, the current flow in it is unidirectional. Therefore, the current never passes through the cathode to the anode in LED.