Elec-terrific! ⚡️
What even is electricity and the eel that is the most compelling thing about Twitter.
This week’s newsletter is powered by a big question rabbit hole, that was powered by a blank word document, that was sitting on a computer, that was powered by electricity!
That’s the theme! And because I ramble on quite a bit below… that’s the intro! 💫
Let’s get electric…
Watch: What is electricity?
Just to be clear, I know that electricity is the thing that makes things turn on, but I wanted to know, like, what is electricity. What’s going on in all those wires and batteries? I also know that cutting a wire is a bad idea, so off to google I went.
When I typed ‘what is electricity in, there were about 939,000,000 results. But only this video was certified by TieXiongJi - Electrical Engineer.
I can’t certify whether the information is accurate, but it does make the technical ‘what is’ of electricity easy to understand.
After I watched it, I wondered how good my chemistry marks could have been if I had a youtube explainer like this. Then I wondered still, what’s going on in those wires?
Read/Quiz: Why do electrons flow?
This Q&A helped me visualise the electrons moving through the wire. Spoiler: It’s less like cars on a highway and more like an electron pass the parcel. There’s also a quiz at the end for A-types. Full transparency, I got one wrong.
Watch: What is energy?
So the pass the parcel is powering the electric party, but what got the party started? In other words, ‘wtf is energy’ anyway?
This video by SciShow answers that question, which was one of the world’s most asked questions in 2014. In a nutshell, energy is everything, but it’s worth a watch to understand why.
Listen: Electrify This - How to Save A Planet
Remember Climate Change? That thing we cared about back in precedented times? The thing that’s happening because we need electricity? Well, it’s still a terrifying thing. But the folks at the How to Save a Planet Podcast make it a lot less so.
In each episode, we learn a little about the mess we’re in but in an energising way. The light tone helps. Also, the episodes end with doable call-to-actions that make you feel like you can do something to stop us from hurling towards a hot and horrific future on earth.
This episode was particularly fun. The hosts explored wacky alternatives to electricity generation and ranked them in terms of viability and creativity. In addition to learning about “poo power” and having the question of whether we can use workout energy to power gyms, I was introduced to Miguel Wattson at Tenessee Aquarium.
In a brilliant use of tech brains and resources, his aquarium has been fitted with probes linked to computers that detect electric signals to prompt tweets like:
@eelectricmiguel - I’m dead.
Theme song: Electric Relaxation
In what will surely be A Tribe Called Quest’s greatest honour (lol, as if), the chosen theme song for this week is Electric Relaxation. Because who doesn’t need to relax after a big brain sesh, and who doesn’t want more of A Tribe Called Quest?
Answer: no one.
Til next week,
Alegria x