Chapter 02 of 5
The Squeeze
The Curie brothers, a crystal that makes electricity when pressed, and why it works in reverse.
- Discovery
Paris, 1880
Brothers Pierre and Jacques Curie found that squeezing certain crystals produces an electric voltage across them.
- The Name
Piezoelectricity
The name comes from the Greek piezein, meaning to squeeze or press. It's electricity from pressure.
- Why It Works
Lopsided Crystals
In crystals like quartz, pressing on them shifts electric charges slightly inside the material, creating a voltage.
17 more cards in this chapter
Could you answer this?
What did Pierre and Jacques Curie discover in 1880?
⌚ The Crystal That Counts Your Seconds
- 01Tick-Tock, BadlyHow mechanical watches kept time, and why they never quite could.
- 02The SqueezeThe Curie brothers, a crystal that makes electricity when pressed, and why it works in reverse.
- 03The Crystal ClockFrom a room-sized clock to a tuning fork the size of a grain of rice.
- 04The Quartz CrisisThe watch that cost as much as a car, and the industry it nearly destroyed.
- 05Crystals EverywherePhones, computers, atomic clocks and the tiny crystal on your wrist.