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Neuron Lab Report

Decent Essays

Neurons or nerve cells come in all shapes and sizes however, they all do one thing. They transmit information the way electrical wires or optic cables carry information. Neurons form the necessary connection that makes the body “go”. Neurons consist primarily of two processes. One process is the dendrites, they receive information from other neurons. The other process is the axon and they send information or impulses out to other neurons, muscles or glands of the body. An unstimulated cell is called the resting membrane potential. Each cell has positively charged ions outside of the cell and negatively charged ions inside during this state. An action potential is a series of sudden changes in the voltage, or equivalently the electrical potential, …show more content…

In Activity 1 we set our hypothesis to find out the potential voltage difference across a cell that’s at rest. We used a computer to simulate explaining how the membrane is permeable more to potassium than sodium due to potassium has more leak channels than sodium does. The cell maintains a stable resting membrane thus the membrane is polarized. In Activity 2, our hypothesis is to find out how stimulus modalities induce amplitude receptor potential. We used three sensory neurons. Pacinian corpuscle had a resting potential of -70mv except a receptor potential of the biggest amplitude to pressure. Olfactory receptor had an increase with chemical modality only. Heat, light and pressure this receptor stayed in the resting membrane potential. The free nerve ending stayed in the resting membrane potential except to heat. In Activity 3 our hypothesis was to find out how much stimulus voltage would it take to cause an action potential? With our computer simulation, we started at 10 mv with no action potential results. We increased to 20 mv and we had an action potential. Action potentials are all or none. You could keep increasing voltage from this point on and continue to achieve action potentials. In Activity 7 we are using a computer simulation. We have three fibers, all with different myelination and

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