Electric Eels: Physics
Sakib Khan
Electric Eels – Physics
The animal that is usually known as electric eel is in fact not really an eel but a freshwater species related more to the carp family or catfish family. These unique freshwater predators got their name from the immense electrical charge that they can easily generate to stun or even kill their preys and dissuade predators.
Electric eels can grow extremely large which usually can reach as high as 8 foot long and weigh a great amount of 45lbs. In addition to this their average life span in the wild can be up to 15 years. Also these eels appearances are rather fascinating as they have such a long body with a flat head with their colour ranging from gray or green whilst having a yellow underbelly. The eels …show more content…
But surprisingly they do shock themselves. Electric eels have been caught in the process of shocking something to have curled up a bit and thrash about as itself was also being shocked. But this shock that they experience repeatedly doesn’t injure them. As with the whole world evolving to different environments these electric eels must have also evolved to be resistant to the shocking pain, so they might feel the shock throughout their body but it does not trouble them as much as the effect it has on other animals, or you could also say that eel is insulated from its own shocks.
But if the eel is going to shock the water and the prey the eel has to be electrically open to current going out and returning. As seen from the diagram above you can see that the eels main vital organs are in the head. So this makes it likely that the eel is electrically constructed so that its head and all the internal organs are insulated properly so all the current flows out and back into the rest of the body of the …show more content…
This is done by primarily by moving various positive ions which are molecules or charged atoms of metals like calcium, sodium and potassium out of the cells which makes the outer side of the cell have a positive charge compared to in the inside of the cell. The ions could move back inside all of the cells to equalize all the charges differences, but its known that cells continually pump ions out of the cells which is all part of a cell chemistry. The resting voltage is usually about 0.085 volts, as this isn’t very high but its uniformly spread around the outside of each cell, this makes all the outside of the cells positively charged and the inside negatively charged. By having this arrangement they can generate heaps of amount
Electric Eels – Physics
The animal that is usually known as electric eel is in fact not really an eel but a freshwater species related more to the carp family or catfish family. These unique freshwater predators got their name from the immense electrical charge that they can easily generate to stun or even kill their preys and dissuade predators.
Electric eels can grow extremely large which usually can reach as high as 8 foot long and weigh a great amount of 45lbs. In addition to this their average life span in the wild can be up to 15 years. Also these eels appearances are rather fascinating as they have such a long body with a flat head with their colour ranging from gray or green whilst having a yellow underbelly. The eels …show more content…
But surprisingly they do shock themselves. Electric eels have been caught in the process of shocking something to have curled up a bit and thrash about as itself was also being shocked. But this shock that they experience repeatedly doesn’t injure them. As with the whole world evolving to different environments these electric eels must have also evolved to be resistant to the shocking pain, so they might feel the shock throughout their body but it does not trouble them as much as the effect it has on other animals, or you could also say that eel is insulated from its own shocks.
But if the eel is going to shock the water and the prey the eel has to be electrically open to current going out and returning. As seen from the diagram above you can see that the eels main vital organs are in the head. So this makes it likely that the eel is electrically constructed so that its head and all the internal organs are insulated properly so all the current flows out and back into the rest of the body of the …show more content…
This is done by primarily by moving various positive ions which are molecules or charged atoms of metals like calcium, sodium and potassium out of the cells which makes the outer side of the cell have a positive charge compared to in the inside of the cell. The ions could move back inside all of the cells to equalize all the charges differences, but its known that cells continually pump ions out of the cells which is all part of a cell chemistry. The resting voltage is usually about 0.085 volts, as this isn’t very high but its uniformly spread around the outside of each cell, this makes all the outside of the cells positively charged and the inside negatively charged. By having this arrangement they can generate heaps of amount