99 Electricity And Magnetism Trivia Questions with Answers
99 public questions with answers, drawn from the well. How many can you answer?
What component converts alternating current into direct current?
Answer
Rectifier
Which 1820 experiment showed that a current-carrying wire can deflect a compass needle?
Answer
Ørsted’s experiment
Which instrument displays electrical voltage as a waveform over time?
Answer
Oscilloscope
Which material becomes strongly magnetized in an external field and commonly forms permanent magnets?
Answer
Ferromagnetic material
In electric circuits, what SI unit measures electric charge?
Answer
Coulomb
What phenomenon ejects electrons from a metal when light shines on it?
Answer
Photoelectric effect
Which device stores energy in an electric field?
Answer
Capacitor
What particles from the Sun chiefly cause Earth's auroras when they interact with the atmosphere?
Answer
Charged particles
What phenomenon causes a changing magnetic field to induce an electric current in a conductor?
Answer
Electromagnetic induction
What unit measures electrical power?
Answer
Watt
What rule says that the total current entering an electrical junction equals the total current leaving it?
Answer
Kirchhoff’s current law
Who first generated and detected radio waves experimentally in the 1880s?
Answer
Heinrich Hertz
What was the name of Thomas Edison’s 1882 power station in New York City?
Answer
Pearl Street Station
Which scientist invented the lightning rod after studying electricity in the 18th century?
Answer
Benjamin Franklin
Which scientist first demonstrated that a current-carrying wire deflects a compass needle?
Answer
Hans Christian Ørsted
What rule gives the direction of the magnetic field around a straight current-carrying wire?
Answer
Right-hand grip rule
What is the approximate speed of electromagnetic waves in a vacuum?
Answer
299,792,458 metres per second
Which instrument measures electric current in a circuit?
Answer
Ammeter
What is the name of the superconducting effect in which a material expels magnetic fields?
Answer
Meissner effect
What law explains why electric current is the same at every point in a simple series circuit?
Answer
Kirchhoff’s current law
What phenomenon makes a changing electric field produce a magnetic field, completing Maxwell’s equations?
Answer
Displacement current
What type of current periodically reverses direction in an electrical circuit?
Answer
Alternating current
Which particle carries a negative electric charge?
Answer
Electron
What device converts mechanical energy into electrical energy using electromagnetic induction?
Answer
Electric generator
Which scientist discovered electromagnetic induction in 1831?
Answer
Michael Faraday