Neural Communications Discussion

Please start by watching this video of the action potential: In a single paragraph discuss the process of an action potential. Explain it in a way that you would tell an eight year old – using an analogy.  I would like to see you use an analogy and the more creative the better! An analogy is a comparison in which an idea or a thing is compared to another thing that is quite different from it. It aims at explaining that idea or thing by comparing it to something that is familiar. We commonly use analogy in our everyday conversation.   For example: An action potential is like the firing of a gun.  When you pull the trigger it is like the stimulus causing the neuron at resting potential to send a message.  If the trigger was pressed hard enough, the depolarization reaches about -55 mV a neuron will fire an action potential.  When the trigger is pulled or the threshold is reached, this sends the bullet down the barrel of the gun!  This will always send a bullet down the barrel like an action potential of a fixed sized will always fire…for any given neuron, the size of the action potential is always the same. There are no fast or slow bullets going down the barrel just like there are no big or small action potentials in one nerve cell – all action potential happens or it doesn’t – this is the “ALL OR NONE” principle You must include four (4) of the following terms in your analogy: all-or-nothing response, axon, resting state, soma (cell body), threshold, positive or negative ions, depolarized, refractory period .