Mad scientist zaps self to determine the power of electric eel shocks

One man calculated the power of electric shocks emitted from electric eels on the human arm - his in fact - all in the name of science.

Kenneth Catania, a neurologist and biologist at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, repeatedly shoved his arm into a tank containing a small electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) to subject himself to painful zaps.

“It was definitely a good lesson in how efficient the electric eel would be at deterring a predator,” Catania observed. “Eels are essentially batteries immersed in water, and I wanted to solve the question of how powerful those batteries are. What’s the internal resistance of the battery? What’s the resistance of the water? My past research left out the last variable: my arm,” he said.

“The subjective report was that involuntary arm withdrawal occurred on every trial during which a circuit was made by the eel,” he wrote in the paper. The experiment was repeated ten times. Electric eels can grow to eight feet or longer, and can afflict a shock equivalent to nine tasers.

UCJ, UNILORIN.