Hi all,

I'm getting into the nitty gritty of neuronal firing, and I haven't found a great resource that addresses all of my questions, so I thought I'd try this forum of self-proclaimed science geeks.

With regard to saltatory conduction, can someone explain the following:
--why nodes of ranvier are necessary for biological conduction? I.e, why aren't all of our wires in the world built in a similar fashion, with gaps in insulation?
--why does charge dissipate across distance, if the purpose of the myelin is to keep the charge inside the axon? Is the myelin leaky?

Please and thank you.

 

Hello,

Perhaps the following query might help:
nodes of ranvier saltatory conduction

Bertus