A small shock after walking on carpet and touching a doorknob is caused by what?
AnswerStatic electricity
Charge builds up on your body and discharges to the metal.
Science · Facts & stats
Zap facts & stats
7 fact-checked facts about electricity, static and electrical science, each with the reason behind it. 5 more are in today's round and join this page after it closes.
The basics
Lightning is a giant discharge of what?
AnswerElectricity
Lightning is an electrical discharge in the atmosphere.
Going deeper
The volt is named after which scientist?
AnswerAlessandro Volta
Volta invented the voltaic pile, an early battery.
Lightning can heat the air around it to temperatures hotter than what?
AnswerThe surface of the Sun
Lightning can reach around 30,000 kelvin, several times the Sun's surface temperature.
The electric eel is not a true eel. What kind of fish is it?
AnswerKnifefish
Electric eels are South American knifefish.
Expert level
What early device, invented in the 1740s, could store static electric charge?
AnswerLeyden jar
The Leyden jar was an early capacitor.
An enclosure that blocks external electric fields is named after which scientist?
AnswerMichael Faraday
Faraday demonstrated the shielding effect in 1836.
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