KINE 2011 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Active Transport, Resting Potential, Nernst Equation
17 Sep 2017
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Some (+) charges move from right to left. Excess of (+) charges in the left compartment: generates electrical forces, membrane potential. We are talking about a thin layer of ions on either side. Accumulation of charges in a thin layer along the outer and inner surfaces of the membrane. Very small fraction of the total charged particles (ions) C, think about it the same way as we think about temperature in celsius, if it was -10 and then it"s +10 that"s a 20-degree difference. So, when we"re dealing with magnitude, inside and outside matters. Either positive or negative, we always go relative to the inside of the cell. The inside is going to be negative in comparison to the outside, the inside has more compared to the outside. All living cells have a membrane potential. Excitable cells (nerve or muscle) can produce rapid, transient (short periods of time) changes in membrane potential.
