Electrically-charged rocks found in Congo? Find Out the Facts

As we are all aware, Africa is blessed with mineral resources. But have you ever heard about the rocks which store and produce electricity? A video circulating in social media stating that the video depicts the electrically charged pieces of rocks found in Congo in January 2023 illuminates a bulb. And they claim it as a groundbreaking discovery. The video is being spread on social media with mixed reactions. This is our investigation into it.

Social Media Posts

The viral social media posts depict a person holding a shiny rock that appears to produce electricity and illuminates a small light connected to it by wires.

“BREAKING NEWS.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has discovered a mountain that is full of electric rocks. A gram lights a bulb for over 72 hours. A kilo of such a rock is said to have the power to light a 2-bedroom house for at least 2 months. What a discovery!

Africa is indeed blessed with great mineral resources.”

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These videos went viral on Facebook.

We decided to do a fact-check on this.

Fact Check

We searched on well-known scientific websites, blogs, etc., to see whether there had been any discoveries over the rocks that can store electricity. Unfortunately, however, we could not able to find any such sources.

It's well-known that rocks with suitable mineral percentages can conduct electricity. More details about it can be found here. Archived.

And we noticed in the video that when two such rock pieces collide, it generates sparkings. So, we searched about the possibilities for that. Some rocks with chemical compounds can engage in such effects. One famous rock type is Pyrite. Details about it can be taken from here. Archived.

Below is a video of how sparks happen when Pyrites pieces collide with each other or with metals and also depicts how fires are created using Pyrites. And, yes, we don't know whether the mineral in the viral video is Pyrite, but the processes are likely similar.

Experts who expressed their views to the AP news agency said that the rock pieces could be Pyrites.

Experts said it’s unclear exactly how the light in the video is being powered, but all agreed rocks alone can’t hold a charge.

Unlike batteries, Rocks cannot release electricity on their own because they lack a chemical reaction that releases electrons and allows the electrons to flow, Simon Jowitt, an associate professor of economic geology, explained to AP.

“There’s no reactive chemical capacity in a rock that you would get in a battery,” Jowitt said.

Yaoguo Li, a professor of geophysics at the Colorado School of Mines, said of the notion to the AP that rocks can store electricity: “We don’t know of any mechanism, thus far, that supports that kind of phenomenon.”

Naturally-occurring rocks typically lack all the necessary components of batteries, such as both positive and negative electrodes, said Yuzhang Li, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, who spoke to the Associated Press(AFP).

“I don’t think there’s any new physics being discovered here, and I would doubt that the rock alone is generating some kind of voltage.”, said Li to the AP.

Associated Press also inquired from Benjamin Hallett, a geology lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He guessed the person holding the rock in the video might also have a battery. The story of Associated Press can be read here. Archived

If such groundbreaking discoveries had happened, the international media and science forums would have been filled with news like those. But, unfortunately, we could not identify any such trend in the report.

Lead Stories and USA Today also did fact-check stories about this. Archived & Archived

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