Lesson 2 ·Class 10 · The Nervous System · Match Lab
Synapses, Neuron Types and Nerve Types
One cell, one gap, one bundle.
Match each term from the wiring of the nervous system to what it means.
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Free play — tap an item on the left, then its partner on the right; each link tells you why. Switch to when you're ready to test yourself.
A neuron is a single cell; a nerve is a whole bundle of axons wrapped in a tubular sheath, like an underground cable holding many insulated wires. Examiners often swap the two words.
What this lesson covers
Challenges to clear
- Match every term to its meaning.
- Connect the association neuron to where it lies and what it links.
The task
Match each term from the wiring of the nervous system to what it means.
What this lesson covers
- Synapse — The point of contact where an impulse jumps from one neuron to the next across a fine gap (Axon terminals lie close to the dendrites of the next neuron but are never joined to them. The gap itself is called the synaptic cleft.)
- Acetylcholine — The chemical released at the axon endings that sets up a fresh impulse in the next neuron (Transmission across a synapse is chemical, not electrical. An enzyme then breaks the chemical down so the synapse is ready for the next impulse.)
- Sensory neuron — Carries the impulse from a receptor in a sense organ to the brain or spinal cord (Receptors are specialised epithelial cells; they convert a stimulus into an impulse that this neuron carries inwards.)
- Motor neuron — Carries the impulse from the central nervous system out to an effector (Effectors are muscles that contract or glands that secrete, which is why a reflex can end in either movement or secretion.)
- Association neuron — Lies inside the brain or spinal cord and links a sensory neuron to a motor neuron (Also called a relay or connecting neuron, it is the third neuron that turns a two-neuron reflex arc into a three-neuron one.)
- Optic nerve — A purely sensory nerve, running from the eye to the brain (Sensory nerves contain only sensory fibres, so impulses travel in one direction only, towards the brain.)
- Spinal nerve — A mixed nerve containing both sensory and motor fibres (Every one of the thirty-one pairs is mixed: sensory fibres run in the dorsal root and motor fibres in the ventral root.)
- Ganglion — An aggregate of cytons, the cell bodies of nerve cells (Nerve fibres arise from or enter into these clusters. Each dorsal root of a spinal nerve carries an ovoid one.)
Hint
A neuron is a single cell; a nerve is a whole bundle of axons wrapped in a tubular sheath, like an underground cable holding many insulated wires. Examiners often swap the two words.