On 7-2-2010 22:06, Darren New wrote:
> Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> True - although muscle contraction is a cascade of chemical reactions 
>> triggered by electricity.
> 
> Not really. Nerve activity is a chemical process that dumps charged 
> particles out of one end to start the chemical reaction at the other end 
> of the next nerve cell. But it's primarily chemical as it travels thru 
> the nerve, unlike electricity in wires.

No. It travels within a cell as an electrical signal. Although ions are 
involved it is not a chemical process, except at the nerve endings. 
Muscle is activated by cells originating in the backbone or even the 
brain. Nerve cells axons can be a meter in length in human, in blue 
whale slightly larger.

> Novocain, for example, works by suppressing the chemical reaction in the 
> nerve.

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