We were at altitude 2674m on a mountain ridge when we noticed that the pole with indication signs for the trails was vibrating. The same was with the digital camera and the hiking poles. We understood that there was electricity in the air. However, the happening was strange because though the sky was covered, it was snowing, and not heavily. Besides, there were no lightnings, but we could hear from time to time thunders. I was wondering if there was any chance of being struck and also, if possessing metal objects might increase the chances.

We are taught that with alternating current electricity supplies the current (i.e. electrons) move foreward and then backwards with each cycle.  If the wire to my computer delivers 100 volts and 1 amp at 60Hz, how far are the electrons moving back and forth in the wire 60 times per second - namometers, centimeters?

Is it possible for a television  to stop working because it's charged up with static? My grandmother's T.V. stops working every half-hour or so, the screen just goes black, but as soon as I touch it it goes back to normal. I'm wondering if that's the problem and I discharge it. However I don't feel a shock when I touch it. It's not just me who can fix it by touch, anyone can do it, but my grandma now thinks I have magical powers relating to electronics! It's a 32" LCD bought in 2006.

Amrit Sidhu-Brar, Northampton, UK, Age 15

What causes the sudden change in volume when I touch the aerial of my stereo?

- Liam

New Zealand

I live in Russia and we have a real full-sized Russian Winter this year. This means the central heating doesn't cope and you have to use electric heaters in addition to get your rooms warm.

As far as I understand, when you fail to save energy, it is lost as heat. So does it make sense to use energy-saving lamps instead of bulbs, turn off computers when they are not needed, and so on, when in the morning I turn on a heater and wait till the office gets warm. Maybe if I used a lot of energy-wasting stuff (taking the kettle and the toaster from the kitchen into my office, of course) I could turn the heater off earlier and the result in warmth as well as in needed electricity would be just the same?

  Oh, and can there be any "more" or "less" effective electric heaters if all "lost" energy turns into heat anyway?

Does anybody know what the electronic component shown in the pictures might do?

It was part of a 1930s collection given to me by John Harwood, a watchmaker from Dunster, Somerset, UK. Harwood inherited the collection from his father-in-law, Herbert Stacey, who was an electrical technician.

Joop van Montfoort, By email, no address supplied

If all road vehicles were electric, I'd like to know how much electrical power would be consumed ( and how many more power stations would be needed ) to keep things running at more or less the same levels of traffic as today. . .