Sixth Grade
Worksheets
How Do Electric Eels Produce Electricity?
They're toothless and can barely see where they are going in the murky waters they call home. So why are these creatures the fearsome villains in so many scary sea tales?
Because they are electric eels - one of the few species on earth that can produce an electric shock strong enough to stun its prey and scare off predators. And they're strong enough to give an unlucky human a very painful shock. How do they do it?
Like most energy on earth, the electricity produced by electric eels comes originally from the sun. After passing through steps of the food chain, this energy is taken in by electric eels in the food they eat. All animals take in energy this way, and most animals also make use of small electric currents in their nerves. Electric eels, however, take their use of electricity to the extreme.
