Page 10 - INSIDE ACCESS JULY 21 3RD EDITION
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FUN FACTS Electrifying Facts
about Electricity
The basic principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early
1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday. His method is still used today: electricity is generated by the movement of a loop of wire, or disc of copper, between the poles of a magnet.
Thomas Edison built the first power plant, and in 1882 his Pearl Street Power Station in New York sent electricity to 85 buildings.
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Electricity travels at the speed of light, about 300,000 kilometres per second.
A spark of static electricity can measure up to 3,000 volts.
The first four common domestic items to be powered by electricity were the sewing machine, fan, kettle and toaster.
A typical microwave oven consumes more electricity powering its digital clock than it does heating food.
Echidnas and platypuses use the electrical impulses emitted by their prey to find food.
A platypus' bill is covered in nearly 40,000 electricity sensors – or electroreceptors – arranged in a series of stripes.
The electric eel (a type of knifefish) can deliver a shock of up to 600 volts, for hunting or self-defence.
The word “electrocute” is a combination of the words electro and execute, meaning you were killed by electricity. So, if you don't die, you were not electrocuted, only shocked.
Someone took the trouble to calculate this, and we're going to take their word for it: you would need about 648 AA batteries to power a human being for a day (based on 1 calorie = 4.2 Joules)!
PAGE 10 INSIDE ACCESS | JULY 2021 3RD EDITION
