Abstract
IN electromyography, metal electrodes are attached to the skin to detect the electrical changes associated with the activity of the underlying muscles. It has often been stated that a resting muscle is ‘electrically silent’. However, if the amplifier noise is reduced sufficiently, electrical fluctuations of a random nature with an amplitude of about 5 µV. (peak to peak) are observed even when the subject is lying comfortably at rest on a bed1. The first possible explanation that comes to mind is that these fluctuations represent the random thermal noise of the source, which in this case is the skin and muscle tissue in series with the electrodes. This suggestion has been tested by simultaneous measurements of the impedance between the electrodes and the spectrum of the fluctuations.
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NIGHTINGALE, A. Electrical Noise from ‘Polarization Cells’ and from Human Tissues. Nature 181, 192–193 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1038/181192a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/181192a0
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