Does this generate any interest?

Reference: Burke, J. (1978) Connections. Toronto: Little, Brown and Company.

p 78

1. What Danish scientist noticed the magnetism - electricity connection when investigating the effect of current in a wire on the behavior of the needle in a nearby compass?

Reference: Feldman, A and Ford, P. (1989) Scientists & Inventors. London: Bloomsbury Books.

p 121

2. The picture shows a coil of insulated wire used by Michael Faraday in his electromagnetism investigations. The many meters of wire would magnify any electromagnetic effects.

a) What would happen in the coil wire when a magnet was passed through the coil's center?

b) What sensitive device would be used to detect the result?

3. When the rod and coil device was moved through a magnetic field, the two flexible wires would move.

a) As the soft iron bar apparatus was moved through a magnetic field, what would flow through the bent wires?

b) Why would this cause them to move? Hint: recall the situation with parallel conductors.

Reference: Weber, L. (1990) Nature's Unlovables: The World of Creepy Creatures.

Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, Ltd.

p 78 - 81

4. Adult electric eels grow to about 6 feet in length, most of which is tail. Their range throughout the Amazon River and its tributaries. This river system is located mostly in what country?

5. The tail section contains special electricity producing muscles called electroplates. They allow the eel to produce a maximum potential of about 600 V, more than sufficient to kill the fish and frogs which are their food. Such a potential is even strong enough to stun a horse and repeated shocks can kill large animals. Electric eels travel in schools, increasing the shock danger to animals that disturb the school.

a) If each electroplate can generate 0.1 V, how many such muscles are located in the eel's tail?

b) If the resistance of the water is 2.5 ohms, what current flows through it?

6. An electric eel normally produces a low voltage electric field around itself and as it swims about, nearby things distort the field. The eel interprets its surroundings through the shifting pattern of distortions. As mining activities encroach ever further into the wilderness, what type of waste solid dumped into streams would create a large distortion in the eel's electric field?

7. Electric eels use electricity for defence, to navigate, communicate, and to find and kill prey. If you wanted to attract some for research, what type of lure would you design?