No, far from it. Axons, the long output connection from a cell, come in two types: myelinated and unmyelinated. Myelinated axons have an extra layer of 'insulation,' a fatty substance, which allows the impulse to travel about 10 to 100 meters per second. Unmyelinated axons only transmit at about 1 meter per second. When the signal reaches the end, it has to cross the synapse to influence the next cell, which adds about 5 ms. 10 meters per second = 22.356 mph and 100 meters per second = 223.561 mph. As you can see it is a lot slower than the speed of light in a vacuum which is exactly 299,792,458 metres per second, or 186 000 miles per second, or 670,616,629 mph.

Published on Feb 9, 2013

Excellent documentary, mind blowing and superbly narrated. Enjoy Narrated by Alec Baldwin.

Category
    Entertainment 
License
    Standard YouTube License 

Published on Jan 3, 2016

If train A is moving towards train B, and each train moves at 75% the speed of light (relative to the ground), will an observer on train A think that train B is moving at 150% the speed of light? But nothing moves faster than the speed of light, so what is going on? This video presents a formula to add velocities under special relativity. I then offer some justification of the formula by explaining time dilation and the formulas for change of coordinates under the Galilean and Lorentz transformation. From the assumed formulas, I show how to derive the velocity addition formula.