Lightning bulb
A summer storm woke me around 2 am. I heard a sizzling sound before lightning struck about 100 metres away. Then I saw a 1.5-volt solar-powered outside light glowing like a 50-watt bulb. It faded after a few minutes. What caused the sizzling sound and made the light glow so brightly?
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Douglas Fairchild, Two Harbors, Minnesota, US
Battery power
Why has there never been an international standard requiring manufacturers to display the capacity of alkaline batteries? All we have to go on is words such as 鈥渟uper power鈥� or 鈥渓ong life鈥� on the packaging. I want a number!
Stephen Brown, Girona, Spain
Time and tide
What is the smallest body of water that is influenced by the moon鈥檚 gravitational pull?
Hilary Perry, Dinas Powys, Vale of Glamorgan, UK
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