EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -In neuroscience, saltatory conduction (from Latin saltus ‘leap, jump’) is the propagation of action potentials along myelinated axons from one node of Ranvier to the next node, increasing the conduction velocity of action potentials.

Detailed explanation-2: -Saltatory conduction is a type of nerve impulse conduction in which the nerve impulse jumps from one node of Ranvier to the next.

Detailed explanation-3: -Action potentials traveling down the axon “jump” from node to node. This is called saltatory conduction which means “to leap.” Saltatory conduction is a faster way to travel down an axon than traveling in an axon without myelin.

Detailed explanation-4: -Saltatory conduction describes the way an electrical impulse skips from node to node down the full length of an axon, speeding the arrival of the impulse at the nerve terminal in comparison with the slower continuous progression of depolarization spreading down an unmyelinated axon.

Detailed explanation-5: -It leaps over the myelin sheath from one node to the next. This process, the saltatory conduction. Saltatory conduction accounts for the greater speed of an impulse traveling along a myelinated neuron than along a nonmyelinated one.