A valid model of a cell membrane is as a parallel - plate capacitor whose plate area
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Question:
A valid model of a cell membrane is as a parallelplate capacitor whose plate area is the surface area of the cell and whose thickness is the thickness of the lipid bilayer.
a You place a probe across the membrane of a spherical cell with a radius of um and find that there is a voltage of mV across it and a charge density of nC per square centimeter of the outer surface. Lets say you know that the thickness of the lipid bilayer is nm What is the dielectric constant of the cell membrane, and what is its capacitance?
b You bring the cells voltage to mV and it immediately begins to discharge. If the charge on the cell drops to nC in nanoseconds, what is the equivalent resistance of the membrane? Hint: do not worry about the geometry or resistivity of the cell.
Related Book For
Physics
ISBN: 978-0077339685
2nd edition
Authors: Alan Giambattista, Betty Richardson, Robert Richardson
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