separator

The term separator is generally used for separating functions, for example in batteries and accumulators for the electrical separation of the electrodes, but also for separating devices, separating symbols and separators in data fields or in mail addresses.

1. In a battery, the separator electrically separates the positive and negative electrodes, i.e. the cathode and the anode.
   

   Battery separator from Mitsubishi, photo: electriccarsreport.com

   It forms an electrical insulator, but ions can pass through it for the electrochemical reaction. Such a separator is extremely thin and microfine-pored, it is flexible and consists of a membrane or nonwovens containing the electrolyte. The thinner the separator, the higher packing and energy densities can be achieved.
2. In alphabets and addresses, separators are used to separate characters. In the ASCII character set, for example, there is the File Separator( FS), a control character with which a DÜ block can be filled. Furthermore, there is the Group Separator( GS) for the logical separation of messages, or the Information Separator( IS) for the logical structuring of data.
3. In the case of e-mail addresses, it is the at character (@) that takes over the function of the separator and separates the user name from the domain name. Example: klaus.lipinski@itwissen.info.