Johnny is a twenty year old male who was admitted into the ER on Tuesday May 25. He was poisoned by a rattle snake. This is not an unusual circumstance in this area; however, this case was unique. The rattle snake that bit Johnny had been shot in the head and remained motionless for at least three minutes. This snake was dead, yet, it still managed to strike Johnny and release its venom into him. How can a dead rattlesnake still manage to strike at someone and successfully release its poisonous venom?
This question is simply answered by biology and physics. Snakes have sensors or pits on their heads. These pits are extremely receptive to the radiation, or the heat, of their surroundings. The snakes are able to sense the difference in heat and since living objects are putting out heat or radiation the snakes are able to “see” their prey against the cooler backdrop of the surroundings. This is why snakes are such successful night hunters. These sensors are activated and then the snakes have a natural reflex to “strike” at their prey and release the poisonous venom. Once a snake is killed it does not immediately lose these natural reflexes because the snake’s nervous system continues to function. Therefore, when a hand reaches towards a dead snake the sensors pick up on the thermal radiation activating the snake’s natural reflexes thus causing it to thrust forward and stick its fangs in your hand releasing the venom.
The picture above is of a snake (the rattlesnake is the bottom one). The arrows point out the pits on the snake
The best way to stay safe from rattlesnakes is to simply be aware of the dangers they pose and take precautions to avoid them whether the snake is dead or alive.
All pictures were taken off of the Wikimedia Commons webpage and were licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike Licence.
All other information is Licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike Licence ©2009, Megan Meeks.
This article is reliable. It comes from a peer reviewed source which means it was approved to be factual by many experts in the field. It is written to instruct the reader on a subject not to sale or convince the reader. The article was also very useful. It had visuals of the information I was researching and looking for and it covered the material in a way that I could easily understand. It discussed how snakes use their pits to “see” objects. The pits are described as “pin hole cameras”. The information was exactly what I needed in order to answer my question of how snakes can strike even though they are dead. It covered a variety of topics or information so I did not need to read all of it or pay as good of attention to all the different aspects of it.
This article was very interesting. It discussed snake heads that had been decapitated yet still had the ability to strike and release venom. This source is very reliable. It cited actual incidents where this had occurred. It was not trying to convince people of anything or trying to sale a product. This article was very brief but still interesting and useful in piecing together my report. It did not provide a full explanation of my topic but it was interesting and useful for part of my explanation. It did not really cover the physics of the topic but more the biology and it was written in a very simple form so it was easy for me to understand.
This article was very interesting. When I saw the title I thought it would be exactly what I was looking for. However, upon reading the article I realized that the venom was not administered through a snake bite. The hunter shot the fangs and got the venom on his hands and then rubbed his eyes causing them to swell shut. This article was simply written. It was reliable as it was written to inform readers. However, it was not useful because it was not addressing the same subject matter I was researching.
This article is from the journal, Gene. This journal is a peer reviewed journal, which means that the articles are all reviewed by scholars in the field. They are researched and proven to be accurate before the article is published. Peer reviewed articles are known to be accurate and good sources of information. Therefore, this article is reliable. While this article was reliable, it was not useful to me. First of all I was confused and lost in all the scientific terms. I did not understand what the article was even talking about but I hoped that through reading it I would be able to get something useful out of it. While I was reading I realized that this article is discussing the venom of rattlesnakes. The article was not really pertinent to my topic.
This article was purely informative. It was purely written to inform the reader. It was not written to sale or convince the reader of opinions. The journal is also peer reviewed so the reader can accept the information as fact. This article was very useful. It explained the phenomenon I was researching in physics terms. This article helped explain why rattle snakes are able to strike out once they are dead. It explained how snakes are able to strike at an actual living object or a person. This article really dug down into the physics of the topic.
This article is written in a reliable source. The New England Journal of Medicine is peer reviewed which mean that a variety of experts read and approve the articles before they can be published. Peer reviewed journals are considered reliable sources of information. Even though this source is peer reviewed I was still slightly skeptical of this article as it is an editorial. However, as I researched the journal further I found out that all articles must be submitted and EVERY article is approved before it is submitted. This article was very useful. It provided several real life examples of the phenomenon I was exploring and writing about. It was interesting to read real life examples of what I was researching. It also allowed me to see some commonalities between cases.
This article was very short! It was actually only a paragraph long. Medical Update is a magazine that is dedicated, “to improving the health and well-being of children. It features articles in the areas of academics, personal fitness, medicine, and science.” This article referenced another article I used from the New England Journal of Medicine. The article was reliable. It was purely informative and was not trying to sale or convince people of information or products. The article quickly stated the facts. This article would have been helpful if I would have found it sooner in my search. The facts were very interesting and simply stated. However, I had already researched the subject pretty thoroughly and was already aware of all the facts given in this article.
This was the book that provided the inspiration for this article. It gave me the basic research and answer to the question. It also helped me start my research. I believe this source to be reliable because it was backed up by many reliable sources.