Download Picking up a Pencil

Picking up a Pencil
The nerves and how they help.
By: Harold Lee
Overview (how it happens)
• The process of picking up a pencil involves the
brain sending electronic transmissions
through the nerves directly to the muscles of
the hand causing the hand muscle to contract
this causes the fingers to close and your hand
to grip the pencil.
The nerve cell is the communication between the brain and
the muscle during the process of picking up a pencil or almost
any process for that matter. The nerve takes the signal from
the brain and communicates the message all the way to the
muscle by a process called synapse the allows the nerve to
pass this charge to another and this process continues until it
final reaches the muscle cells.
The Nerve Process
• The motion of the muscle is possible through
the synapse of the nerve cells. That connect
the brain to that section of muscles.
• The process is controlled by the nerves
interacting with skeletal muscle in the hand.
By changing the muscles charge and forcing
them to contract.
A nerve fiber connected to the muscle tissue causes the
muscle to twitch or contract based on the number of nerve
impulses that occur the more impulses the longer the muscle
will stay contracted after the nerves and brain stop sending
impulses the muscle will relax and return to a rested state.
Chemicals used by the nerve
• Acetylcholine (ACh) activates its own specialized
receptor in the muscle membrane and this leads to a
change in charge between the inside and outside of a
muscle cell. The resulting changes in muscle
membrane charge cause the opening of another
specialized ion channel which sends the nerve’s
signal throughout the muscle membrane, activating
still more ion channels, leading to contraction.
Chemicals used continued
• The nerve cells charge causes the muscle to
release calcium that the muscle normally
keeps stored when the calcium is released it
interacts with the muscle fibers causing the
muscle to contract
Bibliography
• Both pictures:
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/M
/muscle_contraction.html
• Information: notes and
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/M
/muscle_contraction.html