Why is it when you stub your toe (or something similar), your body takes a moment to realise that it is in pain?
In: Biology
WHile nerves use electrical impulses to transmit information, the speed of transmission along a nerve is not at the speed of light. It actually takes a measurable time for the pain signal to travel from your toe to your brain, while you get the information more quickly through other channels, like your eyes or other nerves. You feel the thump all through your body as a sound wave, which is faster than your neve impulse from your foot, so your sense of touch sends that info on from places higher up than your foot and the info gets to your brain before the actual nerve impulse from your foot does. So you have that moment when you know you stubbed your toe but the actual pain signal hasn’t got to your brain yet.
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