53. Underwater Powerhouse

Short Stories
of Science and Invention

A Collection of Radio Talks by
Charles F. Kettering

Weekly, from September 1942 to July 1945, Charles F. Kettering gave five-minute intermission talks about Science and Invention during the radio broadcasts of the General Motors Symphony of the Air.

Kettering invented the first automobile self-starter, and for 31 years directed a research laboratory for General Motors.

These radio talks are a fascinating legacy from the mind of a prolific inventor. The obvious anachronisms now add a historical perspective of the war-time period in which they were written.

These web pages now preserve some of the most popular stories for a new generation to read The text and art come from a General Motors booklet of selected talks. (Reprint, March 1959)

53. Underwater Powerhouse
A Radio Talk by Charles F. Kettering

     The period in which we are now living might be called "The Age of Electricity" and the war with its widespread use of Radio, Radar and many other electrical devices serves to emphasize this point of view.

     We normally think of electricity as a product of man's ingenuity in fairly recent times. While the effect of rubbing amber was known about 600 B.C., Franklin identified lightning as electricity less than 200 years ago. By and large, we think of electrical development as coming from such men as Faraday, Morse, Edison and Bell.

     In view of this, it may perhaps be a surprise to some of us when we investigate a little more thoroughly how nature has used electricity. One such use is by a South American eel. This specimen has received considerable attention from scientists in recent years because it, and its ancestors for thousands and perhaps millions of years have used electricity as standard hunting and fighting equipment.

     This peculiar part-eel, part-fish may be anywhere from three to six feet long, four-fifths of which consists of the electricity producing organs or battery made up of about 240 cells. The eel can instantaneously produce a charge of electricity in this battery when hunting down smaller fish for food. Upon finding a likely morsel of food, a small fish for instance, it comes near the fish and delivers a powerful shock, paralyzing it and making it an easy prey.