Concept explainers
To determine: The time taken by an action potential in order to cover one meter while moving along the axon.
Introduction: Action potential refers to a massive change in membrane voltage that has constant magnitude and can spread to adjacent areas of the membrane. The frequency of action potential increases with the intensity of the stimulus.
Explanation of Solution
The area of the cell membrane with an action potential is referred to as a depolarized cell membrane. This is because the electrical polarity of this region is negative in the outside rather than positive. A mammalian nerve cell normally transmits signals with a velocity of 20 to 100 meters per second.
The time taken by the action potential to cover one meter is approximately between 0.01 and 1 second. This is because the velocity of an action potential depends on the diameter of axon. Also, the action potential fails to move through the myelinated axon segments.
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