/sci/ - Science & Math

>>4765686
>THe axons of neurons are sometimes surrounded by fat tissue (myelinated) at somewhat regular intervals. In these fibers the action potential is faster, meaning that the ion transport from outside the cell to its inwards is faster and they kind "jump" the places where there is myelin, which is an insulator. The movement of the ions, or charged particles, produces a magnetic field that exerts a force in other surrounding ions. This force is carried over by means of photons, meaning that we "produce" light, even if it's a very small amount of it. Is this assumption correct or am I completely mistaken?

Well, we clearly "produce" photons, as you say, because the force has to be carried by them, but they are virtual. Consider the simpler example of two electrons being repulsed (see pic): the photon exists only for a very short time to produce the necessary repulsive force, hence the term "virtual". It is a photon, but it's not part of radiation, and hence not "light" in the conventional sense. The same thing happens for magnetic forces (even though the situation is much more complicated because relativity).