Fun Electrical Facts

Electricity and its related topics might seem dull to some, but it’s more fascinating than you might think! We generally give you energy saving and maintenance tips or information related to the industry, but this time we want to do something a little more fun here at Dunedin Electric!

History is full of fun facts, and the history of electricity is no different. We did a little bit of research and found some thanks to Forte Electric, Inc. Some of these are truly extraordinary, so read on and enjoy!

Electrical Fun Facts

• One lightning bolt has enough electricity to service 200 000 homes.
• First Lighthouse to use electricity – Statue of Liberty (1886)
• In 1800 Count Alassandro Volta made the “voltaic pile”, a battery.
• His experiments,along with Luigi Galvani, applying electricity to frogs legs and making them jump when touched by an electric wire prompted Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley to write FRANKENSTEIN in 1818.
• In 1957 a battery was discovered in Bagdad. It was made by the Parthians, who ruled Bagdad from 250 B.C.E. to 224 C.E., and was used to electroplate silver.
• The Brooklyn Bridge was the first bridge to be lit using electricity.
• Every year, American homes waste more than $13 billion in energy – an average of $150 per family.
• More than 10,000 homes in the United States are powered entirely by solar energy.
• The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
• Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) was one of the most well known inventors of all time with 1093 patents
• During the whole of his life, Edison received only three months of formal schooling, and was dismissed from school as being retarded.
• The Livermore Centennial Light was manufactured in 1901 by the Shelby Electric Company. It is a hand-blown bulb with a carbon filament. It uses approximately 4 watts of electricity. The bulb has been left burning continuously in the firehouse as a night light over the fire trucks since 1901.
• Electrocution is one of the top five causes of workplace deaths.
• The first use of water to generate electricity was in 1882 on the Fox river, in the USA, which produced enough power to light two paper mills and a house.
• 10 percent of total US generating capacity is fueled by natural gas, about the same as hydropower. More than half of US capacity is coal-fired, with nuclear accounting for 20 percent.
• $212 billion in electrical bills paid by US customers each year.
• An electric oven uses one kilowatt-hour of electricity in about 20 minutes, but one kilowatt-hour will power a TV for 3 hours, run a 100-watt bulb for 12 hours, and keep an electric clock ticking for 3 months.
• An Electric eel can produce an electric shock of up to 650 volts at one ampere.
• Currents of approximately 0.2 A are potentially fatal, because they can make the heart fibrillate, or beat in an uncontrolled manner
• Early in their history, Christmas lights were so expensive that they were more commonly rented than sold. An electrically lighted tree was a status symbol in the early 1900s.
• A 100 watt modern light bulb emits about 1600 lumens, while a single flame oil lamp form the 1800s emitted about 2400 lumens.