Can the high voltage of electric eel kill a human?

Question

If so, what if an electric eel generates a high voltage, then a swimmer happens to be just 50 feet away, wouldn't the swimmer be electricuted?

Answer 1

An electric eel can generate 650 volts, like stepping on the third rail of a mass transit line, and of course that is fatal. 50 feet away is too far to be killed though. You need to be in about a 10 foot radius of the eel to get the maximum impact of the shock. A smaller eel may only discharge 450 volts, the 650 just being the maximum known. For some strange reason some people have actually survived high voltage events that should have killed them, such as electricians and telephone workers, even some animals have been up on the telephone poles and actually hit the transformers and miraculously survived. I've even heard of people surviving being struck by lightning, but I don't know if it is true or not. However, the odds are stacked against you and it is highly unlikely you'd be one of the lucky few. Electric eels will only discharge when the are using it to kill prey, small fish, which a human isn't obviously, or in what the eel perceives as self-defense. They don't just discharge to try to kill you for no reason generally, but you never know. I believe electric eels only live in South American rivers and waterways such as the Amazon that are places swimming is generally permitted anyway, for obvious reasons. I do not believe there are electric eels in the United States.

Answer 2

Electric Eel Voltage

Answer 3

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RE:
Can the high voltage of electric eel kill a human?
If so, what if an electric eel generates a high voltage, then a swimmer happens to be just 50 feet away, wouldn't the swimmer be electricuted?

Answer 4

I don t have the data here, but considering voltage enough is wrong. To know the harm an elecrric shock does, one must consider BOTH voltage AND amperage. A voltage in the thousands with little amperage will not cause any harm, while a 60 volt shock with a high amperage will kill you. So in order to answer your question, you need to know the intesity of the current produced by the eel-

Answer 5

the voltage from an electric eel is high, but its only ment to stun an enemy. This would mean you'd have to be all on the eel (like touching it) to be even close to dying. and if your 50 feet away, it wouldn't do much. You should still be careful none the less

Answer 6

It only takes about 40 volts to kill someone, either in a chair or not. But not guaranteed. The higher the voltage (with lots of available current) the better the odds of death. Electric chair voltage varied with state, and over time. Some used timed shocks of different voltages. But I think they were all in the thousands of volts, typically 2400 volts AC. .

Answer 7

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Its not the voltage that matters its more the current. There are three ways in which death can occur. 1. There is enough current or pulsed current in such a way as to interfere with the operation of your heart. (Normally you will need to connect the circuit across your chest) This stops blood flowing around your body and brain death occurs within a few minutes. 2. There is enough current or it is pulsed in such a way as to interfere with your breathing. In this case you die though asphyxiation (lack of oxygen in the blood). Again a few minutes is needed. Both cases 1 and 2 need about 40 milliamps of current (and therefore about 40 Volts or so to drive it depending on how good the connections between the wires and your skin are). The third was is by vaporisation such as might occur when connected across a transmission line. In this case life critical organs simply evaporate or suffer trauma.

Answer 8

It only takes 60 volts and 50 milliamps to kill a person.
An electric eel can generate hundreds of volts,they can be fatal to humans. I do not know the range of their shock.

Answer 9

If you are touching the head with one hand and the tail with the other you stand a much better chance of being killed because the eel's head has a positive charge and the tail a negative charge. This would complete the circuit and the current , driven by up to 600 volts, would run through your body.

Answer 10

Let's see...electric eels can generate an electric shock of 600 volts...yes, that can kill you if you are close enough.