Lesson: The Nerve Impulse Biology • Second Year of Secondary School

Students will be able to

• explain what is meant by resting potential and how it is maintained by ion channels and the sodium–potassium pump,
• define an action potential as the change in electrical potential as an impulse passes along the membrane of a neuron,
• describe how the movement of sodium ions through voltage-gated channels depolarize the membrane,
• describe how the movement of potassium ions through voltage-gated channels repolarize the membrane,
• recall that the process of a nerve impulse include depolarization, repolarization, hyperpolarization, and a refractory period,
• state the properties of nerve impulses, including the speed of propagation and the all-or-nothing principle.