Chapter 8- The Nervous System

Question 1

Resting potential

Answer 1

The potential difference across the membrane of a cell wall when no nervous impulse is being conducted

Question 2

Action Potential

Answer 2

The rapid rise and fall of the electrical potential across a nerve cell membrane as a nervous impulse passes

Question 3

Depolarisation

Answer 3

A temporary reversal of potential across the membrane of a neurone such that the inside becomes less negative than the outside as an action potential is transmitted

Question 4

Absolute refractory period

Answer 4

Period during which no new action potential may be initiated

Question 5

Saltatory Conduction

Answer 5

Transmission of a nervous impulse along a myelinated axon, in which the action potential jumps from the node of Ranvier to the adjacent node.

Question 6

Neurotransmitter

Answer 6

A chemical secreted in response to an action potential, which carries a chemical signal across a synapse, from one neurone to the next, where a new action potential is initiated