Google Spreadsheets are becoming more and more popular because it is so easy to use and you can open documents from Gmail directly into Google Spreadsheets.
Here is a brief explanation on using this feature given by the Google Docs Blog.
To use the GoogleLookup function, enter the following formula in the desired spreadsheet cell:
=GoogleLookup(“entity” ; “attribute”) where “entity” represents the name of the entity you want to access and “attribute” is the type of information that you want to retrieve.
For example, I want to know the atomic number of gold. In this case, gold is the entity while atomic number is the attribute. In the desired cell, I enter =GoogleLookup(“Gold” , “Atomic Number”). Be sure to include quotation marks around both the entity and the attribute.
After experimenting with one GoogleLookup formula, I’d like to apply the formula to a larger list of elements, and also get information on the atomic weight. Instead of typing the formula out like before, I want to click the cell of the first entity in my list, in this case it’s gold. Next, I want to reference the cell in which I name the attribute I’m looking up, in this case, atomic number. Then I want to freeze the appropriate rows and columns with the “$” symbol.
Countries and Territories (like "Burkina Faso"): population, capital, largest city, gdp
U.S. States (like "Tennessee"): area, governor, nickname, flower
Rivers (like "Amazon River"): origin, length
Cities and Towns (like "Chicago"): state, mayor, elevation
Musicians (like "John Lennon"): date of birth, place of birth, nationality
Politicians (like "Anwar Al-Sadat"): date of birth, place of birth, nationality
Baseball Players (like "Wade Boggs"): games, at bats, earned run average, position
Chemical Compounds (like "Isopropyl Alcohol"): chemical formula, melting point, boiling point, density
Stars (like "Betelgeuse"): constellation, distance, mass, temperature
Planets (like "Saturn"): number of moons, length of day, distance from sun, atmosphere
Dinosaurs (like "Velociraptor"): height, weight, when it lived
Ships (like "USS Chesapeake"): length, displacement, complement, commissioned
Companies (like "Hewlett-Packard"): employees, ceo, ticker
Checkout the video below to see the GoogleLookup function in action and don't forget to give it a try to see what kind of facts you can find.