A quantity called the electromotive force of the battery or emf of the battery is:
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The name electromotive force is misleading in the sense that it is not a force but work done to bring a charge q from the negative terminal of a battery to its positive terminal, where the two terminals are separated by a distance d .
e m f = q W = q F b d
F b is the force on a positive charge q and its direction is opposite to the electric field generated within the battery.