Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Chemistry => Topic started by: thedoc on 19/09/2012 09:30:01

Title: Could electricity from cooking materials stimulate a dead fish?
Post by: thedoc on 19/09/2012 09:30:01

Brandon Guerrero  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Would it be possible for the lemon to act as an electrolyte, aluminium sheet actually be an alloy of aluminium-zinc and the fish composing traces of copper to allow the three elements create this phenomenon?

Here is a liveleak.com video of a dead fish moving quite a bit.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fe6_1347247839

What do you think?

Title: Re: Could electricity from cooking materials stimulate a dead fish?
Post by: RD on 19/09/2012 11:03:15

That dead fish (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khW3nLG_xoY) continues to move even when it's not touching the aluminium foil, see ...

Title: Re: Could electricity from cooking materials stimulate a dead fish?
Post by: evan_au on 25/09/2012 09:18:41

Electricity in animals was discovered by Galvani when dissecting a frog. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Galvani#Early_life
[But I'm a bit suspicious of the comment in Wikipedia that it was due to static electricity.... More likely an electrochemical cell.]

Title: Re: Could electricity from cooking materials stimulate a dead fish?
Post by: CliffordK on 25/09/2012 11:03:50

The fish must be fresh.  The lemon juice would depolarize the neurons in the fish.  Quite spectacular videos.

Did you read about the 2012 Ig Nobel prize about neuro-imaging of dead fish?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/sep/21/ig-nobel-awards-dead-salmon
http://www.jsur.org/v1n1p1