The electric catfish (Malapterurus electricus) is an aggressive fish, 1.0 m in length, found today in tropical Africa. The catfish is capable of generating jolts of electricity up to 350 V by producing a positively charged region of muscle near the head and a negatively charged region near the tail.
(a) For the same amount of charge, can the catfish generate a higher voltage by separating the charge from one end of its body to the other, as it does, or from one side of the body to the other? Explain.
(b) Estimate the charge generated at each end of a catfish as follows: Treat the catfish as a parallel-plate capacitor with plates of area 1.8 × 10-2 m2, separation 1.0 m, and filled with a dielectric with a dielectric constant κ = 95?