Question

High voltage by itself does not produce electric shock. What does it mean?

Answer 1

The electric eel has three abdominal pairs of organs that produce electricity: the main organ, the Hunter's organ, and the Sach's organ. These organs make up four-fifths of its body, and are what give the electric eel the ability to generate two types of electric organ discharges: low voltage and high voltage. These organs are made of electrocytes, lined up so a current of ions can flow through them and stacked so each one adds to a potential difference. When the eel locates its prey, the brain sends a signal through the nervous system to the electrocytes. This opens the ion channels, allowing sodium to flow through, reversing the polarity momentarily. By causing a sudden difference in electric potential, it generates an electric current in a manner similar to a battery, in which stacked plates each produce an electric potential difference. In the electric eel, some 5,000 to 6,000 stacked electroplaques are capable of producing a shock at up to 600 volts and 1 ampereof current (600 watts). It would be extremely unlikely for such a shock to be deadly for an adult human, due to the very short duration of an eel's discharge (<2 ms). Electrocution is due to current flow; the level of current would be fatal in humans depending on the path the current takes through the human body, and the duration of current flow.