Wet cell: A since the liquid covers all internal parts, or wet cell battery has a liquid electrolyte. Other names are flooded cell vented cell since gases produced during operation can escape to the air. Wet cells were a precursor to dry cells and are commonly used as a learning tool for electrochemical. It is often built with common laboratory supplies, like beakers, for demonstrations of how electrochemical cells work. A particular type of wet cell known as a concentration cell is important in understanding corrosion. Wet cells may be primary cells (non-rechargeable) or secondary cells (rechargeable). Originally all practical primary batteries such as the Daniell cell were built as open-topped glass jar wet cells. Other primary wet cells are the Leclanche cell, Grove cell, Bunsen cell, Chronic acid cell, Clark cell and Weston cell. The Leclanche cell chemistry was adapted to the first dry cells. Wet cells are still used in and in industry for standby power for automobile batteries switchgear, telecommunication or large uninterpretable power supplies, but in many places batteries with gel cells have been used instead. These applications commonly use lead-acid or nickel-cadmium cells.
Dry cell: A dry cell has the electrolyte immobilized as a paste, with only enough moisture in the paste to allow current to flow. As opposed to a wet cell, the battery can be operated in any random position, and will not spill its electrolyte if inverted. While a dry cell's electrolyte is not truly completely free of moisture and must contain some moisture to function, it has the advantage of containing no sloshing liquid that might leak or drip out when inverted or handled roughly, making it highly suitable for small portable electric devices. By comparison, the first wet cells were typically fragile glass containers with lead rods hanging from the open top, and needed careful handling to avoid spillage. An inverted wet cell would leak, while a dry cell would not. Lead-acid batteries would not achieve the safety and portability of the dry cell, until the development of the gel battery. A common dry cell battery is the zinc-carbon battery, using a cell sometimes called the dry Leclanché cell, with a nominal voltage of 1.5 volts, the same nominal voltage as the alkaline battery (since both use the same zinc-manganese dioxide The makeup of a standard dry cell is a zinc anode (negative pole), usually in the form of a cylindrical pot, with a carbon cathode (positive pole) in the form of a central rod. The electrolyte is ammonium chloride in the form of a paste next to the zinc anode. The remaining space between the electrolyte and carbon cathode is taken up by a second paste consisting of ammonium chloride and manganese dioxide, the latter acting as a depolarize. In some more modern types of so called 'high power' batteries, the ammonium chloride has been replaced by zinc chloride.
