15 Shocking Facts About Electricity

For many, it’s difficult to imagine life without electricity. It powers your homes, workplaces and for some, even their cars. It has become somewhat of a necessity to everyday life for many people around the world, from boiling the kettle for a cup of tea or warming their homes. However, it certainly hasn’t always been this way.

Reports of electricity in the world date back thousands of years, but it’s only been in the last few hundred years that we have started to understand it more and use it to our advantage. Throughout that time, the advancements have been incredible and as we learn, we discover more and more interesting facts about electricity.

1. Electricity travels at the speed of light. That’s more than 186,000 miles per second.

2. One single bolt of lightning can produce enough electricity to supply 200,000 average size homes.

3. The demand for solar electric energy has grown by 20-25% each year for the last 20 years.

4. 50 trillion to 200 trillion watts of heat energy is released by a hurricane.

5. Google alone accounts for around 0.013% of the world’s energy usage. That amount could continuously power 200,000 homes.

6. Every 20 years, the amount of energy used in the USA doubles.

7. The Statue Of Liberty was the first lighthouse to use electricity, all the way back in 1886.

8. The first bridge to use electricity was the Brooklyn Bridge in New York in 1883.

9. One spark of static electricity can measure up to a staggering 3,000 volts.

10. Almost everything we use for electricity in our homes was invented by Thomas Edison.

11. That includes meters, fuses, sockets and switches. 10% of the energy in a light bulb is used to create the light it produces, 90% of the energy creates the heat.

12. The first and only country which relies only on renewable sources for electricity is none other than Iceland.

13. The first use of the word ‘electric’ in print was back in 1646. It comes from the Greek word ‘elektron’ meaning ‘amber.

14. The first street in the world lit by electric light bulbs was Mosley Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, in 1879.

15. The first most common items in the home powered by electricity were the toaster, kettle, fan and sewing machine.

Interested in a career as an electrician?

Here at Options Skills, we offer the NVQ Level 3 Electrical Training Course and the Domestic Installer Award. Take a look at the course pages for more information and call us at 0800 802 1306 if you have any questions.