If you touch a hot pot in the kitchen, you quickly jerk your hand away. You do not thinkg
about pulling your hand away you actautomatically. This automatic action is called a reflex
action. ln a reflex action, the nerve impulse takes a special pathway, called a reflex arc. ln
the case of your touching the hot pot, the impulse moved from the skin where it came in contact with the pot along a sensory nerve to your spinal cord. Here the impulse set off another impulse in a motor nerve running from your spinal cord to your arm muscles.
The muscles contracted and pulled your hand away from the pot in about one tenth of
a second At the same time, the original sensory impulse travelled to your brain,where
you felt it as pain.
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