why can electric eels store electricity

Eli5

Electric eels require food and the amount of food that they need to consume would require more energy to produce the food then the eels could produce as electricity. Living creatures are not 100% efficient. The same thing is true for their biochemical reaction that produces electricity.

Why can''t we use electric eels as an electricity source?

It is possible to use an electric eel to produce electricity. But consistency is the problem. For the electricity to be useful, the eel would need to keep releasing it at a constant rate. ... Would it be possible to use a battery to store the energy, kind of like how solar-powered things can work at night because of the stored energy?

Electric eel

OverviewBiologyEvolutionEcologyLife cycleInteractions with humansExternal links

Electric eels have long, stout bodies, being somewhat cylindrical at the front but more flattened towards the tail end. E. electricus can reach 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in length, and 20 kg (44 lb) in weight. The mouth is at the front of the snout, and opens upwards. They have smooth, thick, brown-to-black skin with a yellow or red underbelly and no scales. The pectoral fins each possess eight tiny radial …

The Origin Of The Electric Eel''s Electricity

Electricity is a big part of an eel''s make up. An eel''s vital organs are all tightly packed in at the front of its body. The rest of the eel, about 80 percent of its total length, is dedicated to ...

The third form electric organ discharge of electric eels

Introduction. Humans have known of the special ability of electric eels to stun prey and people since ancient times 1, 2.This special force of "electricity" has attracted the attention of scientists since the early stage of the development of science 1 – 3: Williamson and Walsh 2, 3, Von Humboldt 2, 3, and Faraday 3, 4 used electric eels as …

Electric Eels: Nature''s Electric Wonders

When an electric eel decides to release this stored energy, these electrocytes discharge in a synchronized fashion, unleashing a powerful electric shock. It''s nature''s way of providing a creature with its very own built-in taser! Electric Eel Behavior: How They Use Electricity for Hunting and Communication. But the shock isn''t just for ...

The Surprising Power of an Electric Eel''s Shock

Using a biological form of remote control, electric eels can force their victims to flail, producing waves that the eels can detect with motion-sensitive hairs in …

Why can''t we harvest electric eels for power?

Electric eels can produce about 100 watts in a short burst, then need to recover. To produce as much as a single normal power plant you''d need about a million eels, all kept alive and wired up so their organs produce electricity constantly. It''s neither practical nor ethical. 1. Award.

Why can''t we use electric eels to generate electricity? : r/ask

We just can''t use them to generate usable amounts of electricity at anything remotely approaching a sane efficiency. The voltage is all fine and well, but it''s at a rather low current (and consequently low power), and it''s only for a moment. It would be like trying to generate electricity by shuffling around in wool socks and touching doorknobs.

The Difference Between Electric Eels and True Eels

A true eel is an elongated finned-fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes. There are more than 800 species of eel ranging in about 2 in (5 cm) to 13 ft (4 m) in length. The longest eel ever recorded was a slender giant moray eel captured in 1927—it measured 12.9 ft (3.9 m) long, or about the height of an elephant!

The Shocking World of Electric Fishes | Smithsonian

The new demonstration lab is designed to help visitors understand how exactly these fishes use electricity. Visitors can touch the head and tail of a life-size …

The Shocking World of Electric Fishes | Smithsonian

The electric eel is just one of the electric fish in the new gallery. National Zoo The new demonstration lab is designed to help visitors understand how exactly these fishes use electricity.

The Surprising Power of an Electric Eel''s Shock

An electric eel explores its world with a series of low-voltage charges, but turns to a high-voltage charge to capture its prey. Every pulse, Dr. Catania found, caused all of the fish''s trunk ...

How do electric eels generate voltage?

Electric eels use special cells to produce shocks up to 860 volts. Learn how they do it and what they use it for in this fascinating article from BBC Science Focus Magazine.

Electric Eels: A Biological Battery | Ripley''s Believe It or Not ...

Electric eels are helping scientists study new medical applications. Because electric eels can synchronize thousands of electrocytes to produce high voltages very quickly, scientists hope to mimic the eel''s ability to use its own bodily fluids to keep the electrocytes charged. This could help power implanted devices using the body''s own …

Alternative energy source: The electric eel

Consumerenergyreport states that the power of an electric eel can produce a charge of 600 volts and could even "be a good idea for an alternative and renewable energy.". This is not the ...

How do electric eels work? | Natural History Museum

How do eels produce electricity? "Electric eels are like living batteries," explains Dr Rupert Collins, our Senior Curator of Fishes. "They have stacks of modified muscle cells called …

[Request] Why can''t Eels be bred on a large scale to generate

The measurement of energy over time is Joules which is 1 watt per second is the Watt which is one Joule per second. (Edited, thanks for the correction!) Let''s say an electric eel can produce 500 Volts at around 1 Amp so that''s 500 Watts. The problem is that an electric eel can only produce that amount of power for about 1/500th of a second.

The world''s most electric animals | BBC Earth

There are very few electric animals and the majority of them are fish. The electric eel is native to the Amazon River, the electric catfish is found in tropical Africa and the Nile River and can emit 350 volts. The electric ray, or torpedo fish, can produce around 220 volts and was documented by the Ancient Greeks and nicknamed the ''numbfish'' because it was …

The Electric Eel''s Superpower Just Got Even Cooler

In an earlier study, Catania showed that electric eels can use their high-voltage attacks to coax prey out of hiding by causing the fish''s muscles to twitch. The eel detects this movement and ...

How Did Electric Eels Become Electric?

Researchers have discovered how electric fish acquired electric organs. Electric fish, like the electric eel, can distinguish other electric fish by species, sex, and even by an individual thanks to their electric organs, which also allow them to transmit and receive messages analogous to bird songs.Recent research published in Science …

Program: Electric Eel

More than that, electric eels inspired the design of Volta''s first batteries, but (hold onto your socks so they don''t get blown off) they''re not the only ones who''ve got electricity pumping ...

Discover What Electric Eels Were Called Before Electricity

The electric eel''s body contains three pairs of electric organs that allow them to generate low-voltage to high-voltage electricity. Their organs hold cells called electrocytes that store power and act as batteries. When the cells discharge, they can cause a powerful jolt to unsuspecting prey and predators.

Eels Can Genetically Modify Nearby Fish With Their Electrical Pulses

In the lab, these unusual creatures can release enough electricity to genetically modify nearby fish larvae, scientists report this month in PeerJ—Life and Environment. Electric eels have very ...

ELI5: How do electric eels create/store their own electricity?

The energy from food is used to move positive charges from inside a cell to outside, creating a voltage difference between inside and outside. Electric eels have evolved cells which are specialised for creating this difference. Stack thousands of these cells together and you can create a large voltage, like stacking lots of small batteries.

Electric eel | Diet & Electric Shock | Britannica

Electric eels have been shown to curl their bodies around larger or more elusive prey. That strategy has the effect of doubling the strength of the electric field between the electric eel''s positive pole …

Electric Eel | National Geographic

Their bodies contain electric organs with about 6,000 specialized cells called electrocytes that store power like tiny batteries. When threatened or attacking prey, these cells will …

Electric eel | Diet & Electric Shock | Britannica

Electric eels (Electrophorus electricus) are freshwater fish found in South America. They can discharge enough electricity to jolt a human being. (more) Long, cylindrical, scaleless, and usually gray-brown (sometimes with a red underside), electric eels can grow to 2.75 metres (9 feet) and weigh 22 kg (48.5 pounds).

Electricity.. more specific electric eels and static electricity.

Sort by: HoldingTheFire. •. Electric eels produce an electric discharge using electrochemical cells. Like a battery. This is like the electrochemical potentials in all animals that for example move your muscles. But configured to create a large and quick external voltage. They cannot store power from electricity—they must regenerate the ...

Electric Embrace: Eels Curl Up to Supercharge Shocks

Endowed with three electricity-producing organs, E. electricus can send a pulse, or volley, of high-voltage electricity through the water toward prey items. These shocks aren''t meant to kill the ...

How an electric eel works: You wouldn''t want to be on the …

How an electric eel works: You wouldn''t want to be on the receiving end ...

Electric eels inspire a new kind of power source | Science News

December 13, 2017 at 2:22 pm. New power sources bear a shocking resemblance to the electricity-making organs inside electric eels. These artificial electric eel organs are made up of water-based ...

Electric Rays & Eels: Electricity Storage & Conversion

The electric organ in electric rays and eels is similar to a battery in that it can store electricity. However, the way it stores and releases electricity is different. A battery uses chemical reactions to store and release electricity, while the electric organ uses electric signals from the brain to release stored electricity. Additionally ...

Shocking Secrets of the Electric Eel | Scientific American

Electric eels evolved from weakly electric fish that use electricity to probe their surroundings, and they have retained the weak, low-voltage electric output used for sensing.

Electric eel

The electric eel has a slender, snake-like body and flattened head. Its thick, scaleless skin is generally dark gray to brown, and its underside is a yellow-orange color. Similar to other eel shaped fish, the electric eel lacks pelvic fins. It has a small, or reduced, caudal fin and also lacks dorsal fins. Instead, an elongated anal fin helps ...

Can you harness electricity from electric eels?

A neat demo, but also an illustration of one major drawback to achieving your goal at any kind of scale: the electricity is inconstant, and generated at the eel''s whims. This isn''t to say that electric eels don''t have anything to tell humans about electricity—but the real money is in figuring out how they function and trying to mimic it.