The electrical conduction of nerve impulses within neurons must not be confused with electrical synapses, which can send electrical signals directly from one neuron to another.

Electrical conduction lets nerve impulses travel rapidly within a neuron.

It involves a brief electrical fluctuation that propagates down the neuron’s dendrites, then through its cell body and out to the tip of its axon.

Electrical conduction is what gives the nervous system the rapid-response capability that is lacking in the body’s other major means of communication, the hormonal system.

Chemical transmission takes place in the synapses between neurons, enabling nerve impulses to be transmitted from one neuron to the next.

This process is called “chemical transmission” because the diffusion of chemical molecules from one neuron to the next is what enables the electrical impulse to be reconstituted in that second neuron.

Chemical transmission gives the brain the flexibility that is required for learning.

These glial cells wrap themselves around the axon, forming an insulating sheath somewhat like the insulation that covers electrical wires. This sheath, made of a fatty substance called myelin, enables nerve impulses to travel along the axon more quickly.

It is something like wrapping tape around a garden hose that is full of holes, in order to increase the water pressure.

Similarly, the myelin sheath wrapped around the axon accelerates neural conduction.