I know electrical signals are sent causing it to contract, but what sort of internal clock is this? What causes it, and how is it so exact?
In: Biology
The thing that differentiates the heart cells is something called the ‘funny current’. Usually channels of excitable cells open when they become positive but the funny current channels open when the cells are negative. Essentially this means that channels open and the voltage goes up and then falls back down but when it falls down the funny current makes it go back up etc
Edit: in an attempt to make this 5 year old friendly, consider an analogy of someone throwing a ball in the air. They have to put the work in each time to throw it in the air. In comparison a ball bouncing on a trampoline (without air resistance etc) would go up and down forever with extra work being put in.
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