Class 11 NEET Biology Neural Control and Coordination

(b) : Action potential is the change in electrical potential that occurs across a plasma membrane during the passage of a nerve impulse. As an impulse travels in a wavelike manner along the axon of a nerve, it causes a localized and transient switch in electric potential across the membrane from −60mV (millivolts; the resting potential) to +45mV. It is due to the fact that the sodium channels open and the potassium channels remain closed. As a result, sodium channels permit the influx of Na+ by diffusion from extracellular fluid to intracellular fluid.