Cell membranes (the walled enclosure around a cell) are typically about d = 7.1 nm thick. They are partially permeable to allow
charged material to pass in and out, as needed. Equal but opposite charge densities build up on the inside and outside faces of such a membrane, and these charges prevent additional charges from passing through the cell wall. We can model a cell membrane as a parallel-plate capacitor, with the membrane itself containing proteins embedded in an organic material to give the membrane a dielectric constant of about 12.
Required:
a. What is the capacitance per square centimeter of such a cell wall?
b. In its normal resting state, a cell has a potential difference of 85mV across its membrane. What is the electric field inside this membrane?
Required:
a. What is the capacitance per square centimeter of such a cell wall?
b. In its normal resting state, a cell has a potential difference of 85mV across its membrane. What is the electric field inside this membrane?
1 answer:
You might be interested in
The work done by a system kept at constant pressure is given by:
where
p is the pressure
is the final volume
is the initial volume
If we plug the numbers given by the problem into this equation, we find
And since
, we have that the work done is
where
p is the pressure
If we plug the numbers given by the problem into this equation, we find
And since