The electric eel can produce enough current to stun people, and it is the fish with the strongest discharge ability. The output voltage can reach 300 ~ 800 volts, which is known as the "high-voltage line" in water.
There are dozens of fish that can discharge electricity in the world, among which the electric eel has the strongest discharge ability. Is there an electric eel in the water? High voltage line? It can output up to 800 volts in a short time, which is enough to stun people, so it is considered as one of the most dangerous fish in the world. What's even more amazing is that they don't electrocute themselves.
Electric eel is a kind of freshwater fish, with a body length of 2.5 meters and a weight of 20 kilograms. The back of this kind of fish is gray-black, the abdomen is orange-yellow, the body surface is smooth and scaleless, and the tail is particularly long, accounting for nearly four-fifths of the total length of the body. There is a long anal fin under the tail, which is their main swimming organ. Their tails also have a special structure, that is, there are two pairs of long shuttle generators on both sides of the spinal cord, which can output 300 to 800 volts.
Electric eels mainly grow in tropical and temperate waters. They are born in the sea, but grow and develop in fresh water. They tend to lie in the daytime and come out at night, preying on fish, shrimp, crustaceans and aquatic insects. When they want to prey, they will swim quietly close to the fish, continuously discharge current, corona or even electrocute their prey, and then swallow them. Because the electric eel has no teeth and can't firmly bite its prey, every electric shock must ensure that the prey will not have the strength to resist.
There are some cells in the electric eel, which are like small laminated batteries. When it is excited by nerve signals, it can suddenly make ion flow through its cell membrane. The electric eel has such cells from beginning to end, just like many stacked batteries. When an electric current is generated, all these batteries (each with a voltage of about15v) are connected in series, so that a very high voltage is generated between the head and tail of the electric eel. Many of these batteries are connected in parallel, so that enough current can be generated outside the body. These currents are enough to stun or kill its prey or natural enemies. The electric fish in fresh water needs more batteries connected in series, because the resistance of fresh water is large, and it needs higher voltage to generate the same current.
The discharge organs of electric eel are on both sides of its body, and most of its body or important organs are wrapped in highly insulating structures, which is like a big battery in water. The current passes through the path with the least resistance, so when discharging in water, the current will be transmitted through the water (the resistance is smaller than that of the electric eel), and the electric eel will not electrocute itself. But if the electric eel is caught in the air, because the resistance of the air is greater than that of its body, it will electrocute itself if it is discharged. In addition, if the electric eel is injured and the insulators on both sides are damaged at the same time, it will be short-circuited like two bare wires when discharging.
The discharge characteristics of electric eel inspired people to invent and create batteries that can store electricity. The dry battery used in people's daily life, the paste filler between the positive and negative electrodes, is inspired by the gel in the electric eel generator and improved.