Part three of a three part series explores some of the unusual and fun facts that sometimes, only an electrician knows.  You may also wish to read part one and part two of this series as well.

Call Dodge Electric for All of Your Electrical Troubleshooting

The Weird World of Electricity from your Electrician Contractor

In an earlier post, we discussed the famous electric eel.  Did you know that the electric eel only looks like an eel?  It’s actually a knifefish.  Hmm, must be an electric knife.  Sorry, more electrician humor there.

The electric eel is not the only electric fish out there, there are also electric catfish, and electric rays.  Electric catfish, hmm? This is scary, speaking as an electrical contractor, as instead of frying up the catfish for dinner, the catfish may fry you instead. A weird thing about electric catfish is that they’re only found in Africa, and the ancient Egyptians used them to treat neurological disorders.  As an electrician, I think that’s cool.  Some electric fish don’t radiate electricity at all, but they are aware of electrical impulses.  Sharks for example can detect more than just blood in the water, they can also detect electrical current as well.  Speaking of cool electrical fish, read this Wikipedia excerpt:

Electrical Troubleshooting in Nature

Eigenmannia is a weakly electric fish that can self-generate electric discharges through electrocytes in its tail. Furthermore, it has the ability to electrolocate by analyzing the perturbations in its electric field. However when the frequency of a neighboring fish’s current is very close (less than 20 Hz difference) to that of its own, the fish will avoid having their signals interfere through a behavior known as Jamming Avoidance Response. If the neighbor’s frequency is higher than the fish’s discharge frequency, the fish will lower its frequency, and vice versa. The sign of the frequency difference is determined by analyzing the “beat” pattern of the incoming interference which consists of the combination of the two fish’s discharge patterns. [READ MORE]  Detecting current is an important part of electrical troubleshooting.  In a way some of these fish do troubleshooting naturally by adjusting their current.  It just shows you how strange nature can be.

This concludes our three part series on electricity. We’ve had fun putting these up and we hope you’ve enjoyed them.  As your electrician contractor, we look forward to consulting with you on your next electrical project, or if  you have any questions.

-Preston Dodge
Your Licensed Electrician

Preston Dodge is the owner and operator of Dodge Electric, an electrician contractor serving Chandler and the Phoenix Metropolitan Area.

Dodge Electric
781 South Arizona Avenue
Chandler, AZ 85225
(480) 926-1033
http://www.dodgeelectric.com