Zekrom is the fifth generation legendary pokémon who stands for ideals, opposite Reshiram’s truth. This electric-dragon pokemon generates electricity in its tail, and unleashes it in vicious attacks such as Fusion Bolt.
Well, to talk a bout this monstrosity, let’s first examine something a little smaller: a real-world pokémon, the electric eel. As you probably know, this fish hunts its prey using electric shocks that it generates inside its body, much like Zekrom. Specifically, the electric eel is capable of producing 500 volts of electricity at about 1 ampere current. For comparison, a typical car battery holds 12.6 volts of electricity (but outputs between 200-1000 amps, making them still more dangerous than the eel).
Electric eels generate their own electricity using their unique and specialized nervous system. In a way, we’re all a little bit electric. Our nervous system, brains, spinal cord, and so on all run off of electric signals. Every time you move a muscle, or think a thought, electric signals are firing off in your body. An electric eel simply takes its nervous system to the next step, using special organs called the main organ, hunter’s organ, and Sach’s organ, together which take up most of the eel’s body.
These organs are made up of electrogenic cells. Each cell holds a charge difference between its inside and its outside, which act like the positive and negative ends of a battery. Each individual cell carries about 100 millivolts of electricity. When sent the right signal, the cells spark into action, setting off a chain reaction though all of the other cells and discharging their electricity.
The whole process lasts less than 2 milliseconds. That is part of the reason that electric eels aren’t dangerous to themselves (or to humans). The low amperage, short exposure time, and the fact that they live in water. Since water is conductive, a large percentage of the electricity that the eels produce gets discharged into the water rather than directly into their prey. Air, on the other hand, is fairly resistant to electricity. That is one reason why Zekrom’s strikes are more dangerous, since they will arc in their entirety into their victim without being dissipated in the surroundings.
Other reasons why Zekrom is more dangerous than an electric eel: Its electric organ is significantly larger. An electric eel is about the size of a adult’s arm. Glancing at Zekrom, the tail is easily a 1.5 meter (5 foot) tall cone, with a rough estimated volume of 0.39 m^3 (compared to 0.0664 for the human body). Since it’s so much larger, and therefore has more electrogenic cells, it can produce more voltage.
Voltage is a measure of the amount of electricity, but amperage is a measure of how fast it is delivered, or the power of the current. Electric eels, as previously mentioned, output about 1 amp. A typical doorknob shock after dragging your socks on the carpet is 20,000 - 40,000 volts, but delivered at 10 milliamps. To deal more damage, Zekrom must output at higher amperage, and ideally for longer durations. 2 milliseconds of electric current isn’t enough to induce spasms or stun a victim; that generally takes closer to 50 milliseconds. So, Zekrom is simply able to hold back some of his electric organ, not discharging all at once in a chain reaction like an electric eel.
One more clue lies in Zekrom’s pokédex entry. It tells us that Zekrom conceals itself in lightning clouds when it flies throughout the Unova region. Lightning clouds themselves act as giant batteries, with positive and negative charges clustering together. Lightning strikes simply bridge the gaps.
Zekrom could easily use lightning clouds to charge his tail, perhaps to hold even more voltage. Naturally, the ion channels in the electrogenic cells hold 100 millivolts each, but with the help of the lightning cloud’s electric potential, it could be pushed higher.
Zekrom’s tail holds an organ full of electrogenic cells, which can be charged by the lightning clouds Zekrom hides in. When sent the right nerve signal, they release the stored electricity in powerful electric attacks.
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