Solved cryptogram
A battery is a chemical reaction that has been forced to send its electrons the long way round.
Chemistry Facts, sourced to U.S. Department of Energy.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 77 letters over 19 different ones, graded medium.
Or go to the puzzle’s own page first.
What it means
Put the two reacting substances in contact and they simply react and give off heat. A battery separates them, so the only route for the electrons is out through one terminal, around the circuit and back in the other, doing work on the way. That is the whole design. Recharging drives the reaction backward with an outside supply, and a battery dies when the materials degrade to the point where it cannot be pushed back cleanly.
The claim comes from U.S. Department of Energy.
- SourceU.S. Department of Energy
- CollectionChemistry Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length77 letters, 19 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
- Royal Society of Chemistryeasy, 76 letters
- NASA Ozone Watchhard, 76 letters
- U.S. Department of Energyeasy, 76 letters
- PubChem, National Library of Medicinemedium, 71 letters
About as hard as this one
Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 73 letters
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 74 letters
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 72 letters
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 77 letters