Electrode Electrode An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit (e.g. a semiconductor, an electrolyte, a vacuum or air). The word was coined by William Whewell at the request of the scientist Michael Faraday from two Greek words: "elektron", meaning amber (from which the word electricity is derived), and "hodos", a way. The electrophore, invented by Johan Wilcke, was an early version of an electrode used to study static electricity. An electrode in an electrochemical cell is referred to as either an "anode" or a "cathode" (words that were coined by William
Silver chloride electrode or electrochemically by oxidising the silver in a chloride solution. A porous plug on one end allows contact between the field environment with the silver chloride electrolyte. An insulated lead wire connects the silver rod with measuring instruments. A voltmeter negative lead is connected to the test wire. The electrode body contains potassium chloride to stabilize the silver chloride concentration. When working in seawater, this body can be removed and the chloride concentration is fixed by the stable salinity of the water. The potential of a silver:silver chloride reference electrode with respect to the standard hydrogen electrode depends on the