The Remarkable Internal Chain Reaction That Occurs When an EpiPen Is Deployed

Innovativescience vlogger and authorSteve Mould built a giant EpiPen to analyze the three crucial mechanisms behind this emergency device to treat anaphylaxis.

An EpiPen executes 3 mechanisms in quick succession when you press the tip against your thigh.

He looked at how it works, how the needle is deployed, the strategic use of springs that use a chain reaction to move the adrenaline through the device, and how the orange tip is crucial to the administration of the life saving medicine.

It is just one step, but under the plastic, it's actually three distinct mechanisms that trigger each other in quick succession without any additional input from you. No button pressing, no dial turning. You don't even need to keep it charged because it doesn't have a battery. though it does have a store of energy that never drains. And all of this inside a package that's barely wider than a syringe

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The post The Remarkable Internal Chain Reaction That Occurs When an EpiPen Is Deployed was originally published on Laughing Squid.