Page 50 - The Miracle of Electricity in the Body

48 THE MIRACLE OF ELECTRICITY IN THE BODY

And both household and car batteries use chemical energy to produce
electrical currents of various strengths.
Electricity used by the body is termed bioelectricity, the cellular ex-
change of negatively and positively charged particles known as ions. For
example, when potassium is released outside the cell membrane and is
replaced by sodium, a small electrical current develops; the potassium is
sent inside the cell and sodium outside.
According to a statement by Lendon H.
Smith, M.D., a pediatrician and one of
the best-known experts on health and
nutrition; “In this way the cells act as tiny
batteries with their own electromagnetic
current.” 32

Cells work like batter-
ies in the body. By
Myelin sheath means of the electric
Axon
current that the cells
produce, impulses
move from one node to
another, transmitting
signals at very high
Impulse speed.
Na + K + K +

Na + Na +
K + Na +
Action Action poten-
Return to Re-polarization Rest
resting potential tial begins
potential (6 Na+ enter) (2 Na+ enter)

Neurons do not touch each other, but the synapses between them are so minute
that nerve impulses can pass from one neuron to another as if there were no
breaks at all.