It is not possible to imagine today's world without electricity or electrical power. Almost all the appliances used in modern life run with the help of electricity. The devices which used to run on the help of fossil fuels are also slowly trying to run them through electric energy. All electric devices like trains, cars, TVs, mobiles are making human life easier. Electric energy was already present on earth in the form of sky lightning, but the discovery of AC and DC current created the form of modern electricity. Today we are going to talk about some facts about this electricity:
- Lightning travels as fast as the speed of
light, which is 299,792 kilometers per second.
- Electricity is measured in Volts. A
single electric spark has the power of 30000 volts, while the power of
thunder is 3 million volts. It is very difficult to survive on whom
the thunder of lightning falls. It is a good thing that no lightning
strike lasts more than a second. More than 2 lakh households can be
supplied electricity with just one lightning of it.
- Sky lightning is generated by the rubbing of
clouds, whenever this lightning shines, it comes from the clouds to the
earth. But we see only that part which goes back from the earth to
the clouds. The speed of lightning is 130000 miles per hour and due
to this a temperature of about 54000 degrees Fahrenheit is generated.
- Electricity was never invented, but it was
discovered. The difference between these two things is that a
completely new object is made from invention, whereas discovery is made of
what already exists, electricity has always been present on this
earth. Benjamin Franklin did not discover electricity, in fact he
proved that sky lightning is a type of electric energy.
- The world's first power plant was built in the
name of Pearl Street Station in Manhattan, USA in 1882, this station was
built by Thomas Edison's company, which supplied electricity to the house
of 85 people for the first time.
- India is the third largest producer of
electricity in the world and also the third largest consumer of
electricity. In India total 55% generated electricity comes from coal, 14%
from hydro power, 10% from wind energy, 10% from solar energy, 2% from
nuclear energy (nuclear power).
- The world's largest bulb is present at Edison
Place in New Jersey, which is 14 feet tall and weighs 8 tons, it is
mounted on top of the Thomas Edison Memorial Tower.
- Iceland consumes the most electricity per
capita in the world. It is the only country that uses completely
renewable electric energy. 87% of its electricity is generated from the hydro
power and 13% from geothermal energy. China is at the top in terms of
spending the most electricity.
- A single Google search also consumes a lot of
electricity; the electricity used in a single Google search can light a
60-watt light bulb for 17 seconds. During a day's Google search, 12.5
million watts of energy are used. In total, all of Google's data
centers collectively use 260 million watts of energy a day.
- If a person shouts continuously for 8 years, 7
months and 6 days, then in that time one cup of coffee can be made from
the electricity generated by his shouting.
- If you have a light bulb on the moon connected
to a switch in your bedroom, it will only take 1.26 seconds for that bulb
to light up.
- The 23rd President of the United States,
Benjamin Harrison, was the first president to have electricity installed
in the White House, but he never touched any switch because he was too
afraid of it.
- You must be thinking seeing this that why a
bird sitting on a bare electric wire does not feel current? This is
because they are in contact with the same power line at a time so that the
circuit is not completed. If by mistake he touches the other wire also,
then the electric circuit will be completed and he will get the electrified
current immediately.
- Electricity can be created using water, wind,
sun and even animal feces.
- Almost all metals are good conductors of
electricity but the element selenium conducts electricity only when light
is thrown on it. It is an insulator in the dark and electricity
cannot be passed through it in the dark.
- Pure water cannot actually conduct
electricity. Due to the impurity and dissolved ions present in the
water, electricity conducts in it.
- The annual electricity cost to run the Large
Hadron Collider, the world's largest machine, is approximately $23.5
million.
- Only 10% of the energy supplied to light a
light bulb is converted into light, the remaining 90% of electrical energy
produces only heat. On the other hand, compact fluorescent light
bulbs (CFLs) use about 80% less electricity than conventional bulbs and
last up to 12 times longer because they produce a very small amount of
heat.
- Long before the discovery of electricity, the
ancient Egyptians began to learn about electricity and its power by
looking at the fish that struck the current, they used to name that fish
the “Thunder of Nile”.
- Electric eels can produce up to 600 volts of
electricity. This is more than twice the electricity that is used at
our home. These electric eels use their electrical energy for hunting
or self-defense.
- You will be surprised to know a fact about
microwave ovens that more electricity is spent in running the digital
clock in this oven than the amount of electricity it does use to heat the
food.
- Electricity is also present in our body, the
nerve cells of our body use this to send information to our other organs.
- Heart beat is formed due to the contraction of
heart muscles due to electricity. The electrocardiogram (ECG) machine
measures this electricity passing through the heart. As the heart
beats in a healthy person, the ECG machine displays regular spikes as a running
line on the screen, and as soon as the heart stops beating, these spikes stop
(as shown in movies and TV shows).
- You will be surprised to know that even flames
are good conductors of electricity. (Source)
- Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion is a
technology that was invented in the late 19th century. Using this
technology, energy can be produced twice the demand of electric energy of
the whole world and that too without increasing the ocean temperature and
without harming the environment. (Source)
- During the 1880s, there was a war of
electricity between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. Tesla invented AC
(Alternating Current) current while Edison invented DC (Direct current)
current and both wanted to promote their current. In this battle of
both currents, AC current won because this current was more safe and could
be sent very far.
- The electric chair, which was used for
punishment, was invented by Edison. Actually they did not invent him
to punish him, but he wanted to show everyone the danger of AC current
discovered by Tesla that it can also cause death. To prove his point,
Edison had killed a big elephant with electric shock.
- In Sweden, a train itself generate 5 times more
electricity than the train carrying ore from the mines to the sea
end. This generated electricity is used to supply electricity to the
surrounding area and also to other trains.
- In Albertville, France, electricity is also
made from cheese. Actually, whey is not required to make Beaufort cheese,
so bacteria are added to the whey, which converts it to biogas. This
gas is then fed into an engine and heated through water, which generates
electricity.
- There is also a pedal-operated cinema in which
pedaling like a bicycle can generate enough electricity to show the film
to hundreds of spectators. It is used in schools in Africa where they
do not have excess of electricity. ( Source )
- Each minute, enough sunlight reaches the
Earth's surface to meet the world's electricity demand for an entire
year. Just the machine to convert that sunlight into electricity is
not yet developed with that much efficiency.
- The ruler of Ethiopia, Menelik II, ordered two
electric chairs to punish the criminals in his country, but after getting
the chairs, he realized that there was no electricity in his
country. After that, he started the production of electricity in Ethiopia
in 1896.
- A professor in Japan found that one type of wild
mushrooms can be doubled in size and production by giving electric
shock. On doing research by them, it was found that when they gave
electric shock, the production of an enzyme present inside the mushroom
accelerates, due to which the growth of the mushroom also starts
accelerating.
- In 2005, an Australian man wearing a wool
shirt and nylon jacket generated 40,000 volts of electricity due to
friction between the two clothes. As soon as the person entered a
building wearing these clothes, the carpet kept nearby, the plastic bottle
started burning and sparks started coming out of his clothes. ( Source )
- During the archaeological excavation in 1930,
some copper sheet wrapped utensils were found during research, it was
found that these are from the time of the Roman Empire and these utensils
are nothing but batteries of that time.
Battery in Roman Era
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