m.kirkcaldie-remove at unsw.edu.au Sun Mar 20 21:27:21 EST 2005
In article <ir9s31tlhhpmmtpplufie8hdiov0qnnnrd at 4ax.com>, r
norman <rsn_ at _comcast.net> wrote: > Still, the real
"transmission" of the action potential, as you say, is > the
successive replication of a completely new action potential at >
each node. The longitudinal flow of current is simply the
decremental > spread of activity that is the mechanism
underlying the triggering. > If find that it usually takes two
or three rounds of courses for > students to really start to get
it. It starts in intro biology and > continues in animal
physiology. By the third time in a specialized > neuro course,
it finally starts to really sink in and gel. I find the Mexican
wave analogy does it every time - the action potential
corresponds to each person standing up and sitting back down,
nothing physically moves overall. The length constant is how
many seats away you're looking to get your cue for when to
stand, and the time constant is what you use for the cu