Describe and explain the process of saltatory conduction. Diagrams may be used.

Saltatory conduction is the term used to describe the propagation (a widely and quickly spreading phenomenon) of an action potential down the axon of a myelinated neuron, from one node of ranvier to the next. A node of ranvier is the gap between Schwann cells on the axon's surface. These 'gaps' essentially mean that the electrical impulse 'jumps' from one node of ranvier to the next, dramatically speeding up the speed at which axonal propagation occurs.