Download Action Potential Webquest

Action Potential Web Quest AP
Names ________________________
PART 1 – NEURONS
Go to http://www.childrenshospital.org/research/_neuron/index.html
1. What is a neuron? _________________________________________________________
2. Summarize the function of each of the following parts of the neuron:
Soma (Cell Body)________________________________________________________
Dendrites _____________________________________________________________
Axon _________________________________________________________________
Myelin Sheath _________________________________________________________
Synaptic End Bulbs (Synaptic terminal)_______________________________________
Synapse _______________________________________________________________
3. Draw a neuron below and label the parts in the box below.
Save this website for later, the other tabs have helpful and simplified animations of how a neuron works.
Part 2 - Resting Potential and Action Potential Videos (short)
Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP_P6bYvEjE Watch this video. It shows how membrane
potential (resting potential) develops in the neuron cell.
1. What causes the inside of the cell to be more negative compared to the outside of the cell?
Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAmUjvgoO0A Watch this video. It shows how resting
potential develops as well as how an action potential (impulse) develops.
2. What role does the sodium/potassium pump (Na+/K+ pump) have in creating resting potential?
3. What happens to the inside of the cell when sodium ions flood into the cell?
4. After sodium ions have flooded into the cell and the sodium gates close, what happens to the
potassium ions?
5. How does an action potential conduct along an axon?
6. Describe and draw an action potential.
Part 3 – Crashcourse Nervous System Video
If you have time at the end of the above sections, please watch the Crashcourse video on the Nervous
System: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4PPZCLnVkA.
This video will help to tie everything up that you viewed in the previous sections. We will continue this
discussion as we look more at action potentials and the role that ion channels and ions play in the
creation and transmission of a nerve impulse.
1. In no more than 5 sentences, describe the overall process of creating and transmitting a nervous
impulse. Make sure that you briefly touch on ion channels, ions and the action potential.