Solved cryptogram
Electrons in a wire drift more slowly than a snail, while the signal they carry nearly flies.
Physics Facts, sourced to HyperPhysics, Georgia State University.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 75 letters over 17 different ones, graded medium.
Or go to the puzzle’s own page first.
What it means
A wire is already packed with free electrons before you connect anything. Switching on does not send electrons down the wire to the lamp; it sets up a field that nudges every electron in the whole circuit at once, and that nudge travels at close to the speed of light. The electrons themselves shuffle along at fractions of a millimeter per second. It is the difference between water arriving and a pipe already being full.
The claim comes from HyperPhysics, Georgia State University.
- SourceHyperPhysics, Georgia State University
- CollectionPhysics Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length75 letters, 17 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
- HyperPhysics, Georgia State Universityhard, 68 letters
- HyperPhysics, Georgia State Universitymedium, 71 letters
- HyperPhysics, Georgia State Universitymedium, 77 letters
- HyperPhysics, Georgia State Universitymedium, 70 letters
About as hard as this one
Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.
- NASA Glenn Research Centermedium, 69 letters
- NISTmedium, 73 letters
- OpenStax, Rice Universitymedium, 71 letters
- NISTmedium, 74 letters