What Powers the Nervous system? (Western Science)

[MooNiNite]

I'm curious, from a western medical perspective, what provides the electricity to power the nervous system?

 

 

in other words, denying the existence of the soul, how do we explain the nervous system's power generator?

[Protector]

Boom

http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/nervous-system/human-body-make-electricity.htm

[ChiDragon]

Action potential.....

http://www.getbodysmart.com/ap/muscletissue/contraction/actionpotentials/tutorial.html

 

[zanshin]

Charged ions- mainly potassium and sodium synapsing cell to cell.

[ChiDragon]

How do you think the charge ions passed on; it isn't cell to cell......???

[MooNiNite]

Boom

http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/nervous-system/human-body-make-electricity.htm

 

i couldn't find where it says how the body makes the electricity.

 

it mostly talked about electricity moving around

[Brian]

Electrolytes.

 

 

 

 

('Cause Brawndo's got electrolytes...)

[Protector]

i couldn't find where it says how the body makes the electricity.

 

it mostly talked about electricity moving around

 

It's right there on the second page

 

 

Your cell membranes practice a trick often referred to as the sodium-potassium gate. It's a very complex mechanism, but the simple explanation of these gates, and how they generate electrical charges, goes like this:

At rest, your cells have more potassium ions inside than sodium ions, and there are more sodium ions outside the cell. Potassium ions are negative, so the inside of a cell has a slightly negative charge. Sodium ions are positive, so the area immediately outside the cell membrane is positive. There isn't a strong enough charge difference to generate electricity, though, in this resting state.

When the body needs to send a message from one point to another, it opens the gate. When the membrane gate opens, sodium and potassium ions move freely into and out of the cell. Negatively charged potassium ions leave the cell, attracted to the positivity outside the membrane, and positively charged sodium ions enter it, moving toward the negative charge. The result is a switch in the concentrations of the two types of ions -- and rapid switch in charge. It's kind of like switching between a 1 and 0 -- this flip between positive and negative generates an electrical impulse. This impulse triggers the gate on the next cell to open, creating another charge, and so on. In this way, an electrical impulse moves from a nerve in your stubbed toe to the part of your brain that senses pain.

[zanshin]

How do you think the charge ions passed on; it isn't cell to cell......???

I didn't say that quite right. Each cell does have it's own ions that flow in and out as Protector's article. An individual potassium or sodium ion is not passed cell to cell, the electrical impulse is what passes down chain and I will finish reading too. Hard to understand and remember.

[Nungali]

Electrolytes.

 

 

 

 

('Cause Brawndo's got electrolytes...)

 

 

Sorta on topic

 

Brian , since you may be able to affirm 2 things I heard or read soemwhere:

 

If someone is depleted of salt ... and we can measure that in the skin of their bodily extremities or fluids ... and then they eat salt, how long does it take to be able to detect in those same places ( and perhaps even the hair ???) that they have come back to the right salt balance ?

 

Does electrical current actually go along one synapse and into another or is it just a relay of synapses going off one after another ?

 

- hope that made sense

Edited August 20, 2014 by Nungali

[Nungali]

Sorry I forgot to give my answer to the question;

 

We do

 

 

Also ... just for fun : " Fujifilm Corp. and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) have developed a resin sheet that generates electricity, utilizing the temperature difference between human body and the air. The power-generating sheet developed by Fujifilm and AIST could be used to provide additional power for portable devices."

 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-25/japan-matrix-now-reality-humans-are-used-living-batteries

[Seeker of Wisdom]

...Does electrical current actually go along one synapse and into another or is it just a relay of synapses going off one after another ?...

When the signal reaches the synapse it causes neurotransmitters to be released across the gap. When they get to the other end, they cause sodium ion channels to open there so the signal continues.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Seeker of Wisdom

[Brian]

 

 

Sorta on topic

 

Brian , since you may be able to affirm 2 things I heard or read soemwhere:

 

If someone is depleted of salt ... and we can measure that in the skin of their bodily extremities or fluids ... and then they eat salt, how long does it take to be able to detect in those same places ( and perhaps even the hair ???) that they have come back to the right salt balance ?

 

Does electrical current actually go along one synapse and into another or is it just a relay of synapses going off one after another ?

 

- hope that made sense

Blood circulates in well under a minute, so the question becomes "how quickly does it get into the bloodstream?" Remember why the University of Florida developed Gatorade?

 

As to the second part, bear in mind that we are talking about signal propagation rather than strictly relying on ion drift. Think about a tube filled with marbles (and/or a series of watch-towers).

 

Make sense?

[Anoesjka]

The Krebs cycle, from ADP to ATP, or was it the other way around? A slow burning fire.

[GrandmasterP]

I'm curious, from a western medical perspective, what provides the electricity to power the nervous system?

 

 

in other words, denying the existence of the soul, how do we explain the nervous system's power generator?

 

Coffee?

[Stosh]

Sorta on topic

 

Brian , since you may be able to affirm 2 things I heard or read soemwhere:

 

If someone is depleted of salt ... and we can measure that in the skin of their bodily extremities or fluids ... and then they eat salt, how long does it take to be able to detect in those same places ( and perhaps even the hair ???) that they have come back to the right salt balance ?

 

Does electrical current actually go along one synapse and into another or is it just a relay of synapses going off one after another ?

 

- hope that made sense

Its not the same mechanism as electricty in a wire,instead of plain electrons ( or electron deficiencies called holes) ,,

Ions carry charge which pass through the cell membrane depending on the local electical situation

(Picture the "wave"going around a stadium during a football match rather than cars on a road.)

and this dump of ions progresses like a wave along the length of the nerve. The synapses are junctures ,, forks in the road , at which this progression can be propagated to another cell ,or cells.

Ions move in or out of the cell 'laterally' while the wave progresses 'distally'.

The energy 'generation' is done by chemically pumping ions back across the membrane, the nerve as a whole does this during the nontransmitting-resting phase, there is no 'origin', there is only the path.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Stosh

[Marblehead]

Has anyone yet suggested that it might be two "AAA" batteries?

[Nungali]

When the signal reaches the synapse it causes neurotransmitters to be released across the gap. When they get to the other end, they cause sodium ion channels to open there so the signal continues.

 

chemical signals across the gap between nerves ? So; electrical > chemical > electrical > chemical > ... ?

[Nungali]

Blood circulates in well under a minute, so the question becomes "how quickly does it get into the bloodstream?" Remember why the University of Florida developed Gatorade?

 

As to the second part, bear in mind that we are talking about signal propagation rather than strictly relying on ion drift. Think about a tube filled with marbles (and/or a series of watch-towers).

 

Make sense?

No

 

I heard in a lecturer ask how long it takes when, if one can test the hair and if it shows salt deficiency (? huh ? ) then immediatly when one puts salt in the mouth how long before the salt level in the hair is normal, about 4 people in the class said straight away and the lecturer said "Thats right." .... I never got that or why a few people already thought that.

 

The second bit, I dont get ion drift ... the marble tube is an analogy of electron flow ? Some go in one end and instantly force others out the other end, but the actual movement of a particle (electron) is a lot slower ?

 

Is that what happens or is their a break ... somehow i thought the electrical current itself didnt actually pass on ... which is why I might seem confused in above posts.

[Nungali]

Its not the same mechanism as electricty in a wire,instead of plain electrons ( or electron deficiencies called holes) ,,

Ions carry charge which pass through the cell membrane depending on the local electical situation

(Picture the "wave"going around a stadium during a football match rather than cars on a road.)

and this dump of ions progresses like a wave along the length of the nerve. The synapses are junctures ,, forks in the road , at which this progression can be propagated to another cell ,or cells.

Ions move in or out of the cell 'laterally' while the wave progresses 'distally'.

The energy 'generation' is done by chemically pumping ions back across the membrane, the nerve as a whole does this during the nontransmitting-resting phase, there is no 'origin', there is only the path.

 

Thanks ...

 

 

I will try reading this again later ... after my morning coffee .

[GrandmasterP]

Back in school the physics guy attempted to enlighten me about electricity.

He failed.

I've no interest in or knowledge of how it works.

Just as long as it does work and who to call if it doesn't is all the info that I've ever needed.

Edited August 21, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[Songtsan]

ATP! The fuel source which drives the Krebs cycle and the Electron Transport Chain (ETC), although there are other ways to generate such as the Creatine Phosphate, lactic acid cycle, etc.The question is, what powers the system....one could say that it is electrons themselves powering the system - for that is what it boils down to is electrons and electron potentials/gradients causing movement and communication...but really, it is all needed: oxygen, pyruvate, bunch of different enzymes, etc. - missing one, and the whole system falls down (generally speaking).

 

What powers a car?

 

Gasoline, combustion? The pistons, the person pushing the gas pedal...

 

Can you separate the parts from the whole and say one thing alone is responsible?

 

The whole thing powers the whole.

 

All things co-originated, all the time.

 

The sun powers us all! We are all made of star dust, and it is sunlight which makes the plants grow, which animals eat, which we eat, etc.

 

The sun is GOD! The sun! The true source of all our might!

 

[Brian]

Back in school the physics guy attempted to enlighten me about electricity.

He failed.

I've no interest in or knowledge of how it works.

Just as long as it does work and who to call if it doesn't is all the info that I've ever needed.

LOL

 

Fortunately, we needn't understand the underlying principles to use physical phenomena -- or to create mechanisms which use those phenomena.

 

Not only does the light bulb glow regardless of the switch-flipper's physics acumen but it really doesn't matter if the electrician who installs the wiring understands electricity, either!

[Stosh]

No

 

I heard in a lecturer ask how long it takes when, if one can test the hair and if it shows salt deficiency (? huh ? ) then immediatly when one puts salt in the mouth how long before the salt level in the hair is normal, about 4 people in the class said straight away and the lecturer said "Thats right." .... I never got that or why a few people already thought that.

 

The second bit, I dont get ion drift ... the marble tube is an analogy of electron flow ? Some go in one end and instantly force others out the other end, but the actual movement of a particle (electron) is a lot slower ?

 

Is that what happens or is their a break ... somehow i thought the electrical current itself didnt actually pass on ... which is why I might seem confused in above posts.

Electrons themselves do whiz at near the speed of light , but they are grabbed up locally and so each one doesnt physically travel the lengh of the tube ,instead , a different electron pops out the other side.

Dominos

Edited August 21, 2014 by Stosh

[GrandmasterP]

LOLFortunately, we needn't understand the underlying principles to use physical phenomena -- or to create mechanisms which use those phenomena.Not only does the light bulb glow regardless of the switch-flipper's physics acumen but it really doesn't matter if the electrician who installs the wiring understands electricity, either!

Sore point.

We had a letter from the buyer of our house solicitors wanting a copy of the electrical installation certificate.

Which we couldn't find and the electrician who did the job wasn't answering his 'phone or picking up messages.

" No problem" says the solicitor " just give us £160 for an indemnity insurance policy for the electrics and that'll cover it."

Which I do.

Day after I took them the cash the electrician turns up on our doorstep with a copy of the certificate and his invoice for £25 for producing it.

Which I pay.

£185 sovs out of pocket but so well covered for electrical safety now that it seems almost a shame to move house!

Edited August 21, 2014 by GrandmasterP