# Where does the electricity on ones body go when we die? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2002, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-electricity-on-ones-body-go-when-we-die/101690 "2002-04-04T01:12:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-electricity-on-ones-body-go-when-we-die/101690/41 "2011-06-29T05:31:30Z")
I believe [this is one of the most accurate drawings of the monster](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.chud.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Frankenstein_03_small.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.chud.com/54094/frankenstein-forever/&usg=__UghaLiqW2t08LB8jvTqIoazfCZI=&h=400&w=298&sz=33&hl=en&start=55&zoom=1&tbnid=hurn137PApYcZM:&tbnh=118&tbnw=88&ei=nbcKTuGJLcua-gbu44TPAg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dfrankenstein%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enUS383US383%26biw%3D982%26bih%3D575%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divnsb&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=86&page=4&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:55&tx=439&ty=-417&biw=982&bih=575). There are no known photographs of the actual monster. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-electricity-on-ones-body-go-when-we-die/101690/42 "2011-06-29T09:56:22Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Whaaaat? Dude, you’re all kinds of mixed up. > … > Shocking muscle uses up the _calcium_, not the ATP (which is already depleted). So what zombies actually crave is calcium. If we would just bury people with fresh milk, we wouldn’t have this problem. Should worse come to worst, a pack of calcium pills will be more effective than any shotgun or sharp spike. Ok, I was confused on the role of ATP/Calcium. I’m not a biochemist. But, surely, zombies need calcium to contract their dead muscles, and ATP to release the cramps (or maybe they rely on the rotting bacteria in their stinking corpses). So they need calcium (_sssskkkkuuuullllsss_), but if you overload them with it they will lock up, or hit them with an ATP overload to make them go floppy. Hmmm, rethinking my Zombie Apocalypse plan. 😉 Si ---
**Author:** ![Wizard\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Wizard\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wizard_One)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-electricity-on-ones-body-go-when-we-die/101690/43 "2011-07-02T03:46:24Z")
OK, mega goobering it down a LOT, cells rely, indeed, LIVE on the sodium/potassium pump across the cell membrane. Upset that and the cell does that dead thing. Instantly. THAT said, nerves do the sodium/potassium thing REAL quick as a polarization wave to send a message. It’s gated by several neurotransmitters that they’ve not QUITE figured out yet. (OK, they’ve not a LOT figured them out yet). HIGH ENERGY events, like muscles, use calcium channels. It’s more reactive and faster and higher energy. Simply put, in the brain, your head would overheat and kill you within a minute or so, as proteins (well, 99.9% of them) denature (fall apart) due to high temperature (why cooking and sterilizing works). So, the electricity? It’s MEASURED electricity. Like from a shitload of generators (each cell), either muscle or brain, depending on the life measurement of the day (heart or brain). OK, what happens when I remove power from a generator? Where does the electricity go? Nowhere, it isn’t generated. Now, is there a LOT uncovered? Yes! Is the end premise incorrect? Nope! Hence, WHY there are NO ZOMBIES! 🙂 Christ knows WHY so many people in this country want to believe in zombies! Oops, Christ, the zombie God… 😉 (BOOM!) \ Sorry, Boss! Just joking… NEVER piss off the wife! 😉 (BOOM!!!) +++ATH ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-electricity-on-ones-body-go-when-we-die/101690/44 "2011-07-02T09:44:21Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > IANA ElectroBiologist, but I think he was using the potential of the extremely high voltage in lightening to get electrons moving through the dead body parts. Perhaps body parts left dead for sufficient time develop a lot of neutrally charged compounds that require high voltages to free the electrons. Also, the green hue is probably due to copper based compounds injected into the monsters blood system. These would certainly enhance the general conductivity of the dead flesh. That would certainly be a neccesity with electrodes places nearly adjacent on either side of the neck. 1. Frankenstein never used lightning. 2. The monster was yellow, not green > [@Chessic Sense](#): > > So rigor mortis sets in after the ATP is used up and releases once bacteria eat the muscle, specifically the myosin heads. That’s why it doesn’t set in immediately upon death and doesn’t let go for quite some time. Rigor ends when enzymes within the muscle tissue digest the proteins sufficient to release the bonds. IOW it is an autolytic process and has nothing whatsoever to do with bacteria. It also doesn’t (usually) involve removal of the myosin heads. If it were bacterial in origin then hanging meat would always result in serious food poisoning. Since it is entirely endogenous and not in any way associated with microbial activity, hanging meat is perfectly safe. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-electricity-on-ones-body-go-when-we-die/101690/45 "2011-07-03T03:40:47Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > 1. … Since it is entirely endogenous and not in any way associated with microbial activity, hanging meat is perfectly safe. Huh? Smoke, salt, pickle, spices or else you’re sick/dead. Or is “hanging” a tech term for “short term”? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-electricity-on-ones-body-go-when-we-die/101690/46 "2011-07-03T09:53:49Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Huh? Smoke, salt, pickle, spices or else you’re sick/dead. Or is “hanging” a tech term for “short term”? The time simply isn’t the issue. Hanging has to be done until rigor ceases. That is the whole point. Doesn’t matter if it takes an hour or a month, the meat has to be hung at least until rigor ends. If the end of rigor came about due to bacterial action, as has been suggested, then all meat must be contaminated with massive bacterial loads since all meat has been boned after rigor ceased. Since that clearly is not the case, then clearly rigor does not cease due to bacterial action. It’s autolytic. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-electricity-on-ones-body-go-when-we-die/101690/47 "2011-07-03T22:01:58Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Does peristalsis still churn away until individual cell death? I have not been unlucky enough to witness this in a human, but ruminant peristalsis does indeed continue for quite some time after death. ---
**Author:** ![wbeaty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/439d5e/32.png) [@wbeaty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wbeaty)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-electricity-on-ones-body-go-when-we-die/101690/48 "2011-07-04T03:25:32Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > When we are living our bodies run on electricity. We are one big electronic impulse. Well, that’s true of nervous system. But nerve impulses are _motions_ of the charges of electricity. Nerve signals contain brief _impulse forces_ between opposite and alike polarity charged particles. Nerves, tissues, everything is made up of electricity (made of positive particles and negative particles.) So where does it go after death? It doesn’t go anywhere, it just stops moving, the forces stop fluctuating. And for everyone who insists that electrons aren’t carriers of “negative electricity,” but instead the Electricity is the electrons’ movements? I challenge you to get a group of physics and education experts to agree on a single clear scientific definition of the word “Electricity.” Hasn’t happened yet! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-electricity-on-ones-body-go-when-we-die/101690/49 "2011-07-05T16:24:07Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > 1. Frankenstein never used lightning. > 2. The monster was yellow, not green This is a common misconception taken from the book by Mary Shelley. However, it is generally acknowledged that Shelley’s book is a highly embellished fictional account. It is clearly established that Shelley never met Frankenstein or his monster. The preponderance of evidence indicates that Frankenstein’s monster was green, and Frankenstein used lightning as a source of electricity to animate the creature. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-electricity-on-ones-body-go-when-we-die/101690/50 "2011-07-05T16:44:01Z")
I love resurrected decade old threads! It’s ALIIIIVE!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-electricity-on-ones-body-go-when-we-die/101690.md?page=2)