a flow of charge can be caused by ions moving in a electrolyte.
a flow of charge can be caused by ions moving in a electrolyte.
a flow of charge can be caused by ions moving in a?
electrolyte
in a vacuum, a beam of ions or electrons may be formed. in other conductive materials, the electric current is due to the flow of both positively and negatively charged particles at the same time. in still others, the current is entirely due to positive charge flow. for example, the electric currents in electrolytes are flows of positively and negatively charged ions. in a common lead-acid electrochemical cell, electric currents are composed of positive hydronium ions flowing in one direction, and negative sulfate ions flowing in the other. electric currents in sparks or plasma are flows of electrons as well as positive and negative ions. in ice and in certain solid electrolytes, the electric current is entirely composed of flowing ions.
electric current
bullet::::- in panel 2 of the diagram, the cell membrane has been made permeable to potassium ions, but not the anions (an) inside the cell. these anions are mostly contributed by protein. there is energy stored in the potassium ion concentration gradient that can be converted into an electrical gradient when potassium (k) ions move out of the cell. note that potassium ions can move across the membrane in both directions but by the purely statistical process that arises from the higher concentration of potassium ions inside the cell, there will be more potassium ions moving out of the cell. because there is a higher concentration of potassium ions inside the cells, their random molecular motion is more likely to encounter the permeability pore (ion channel) that is the case for the potassium ions that are outside and at a lower concentration. an internal k is simply "more likely" to leave the cell than an extracellular k is to enter it. it is a matter of diffusion doing work by dissipating the concentration gradient. as potassium leaves the cell, it is leaving behind the anions. therefore, a charge separation is developing as k leaves the cell. this charge separation creates a transmembrane voltage. this transmembrane voltage is the membrane potential. as potassium continues to leave the cell, separating more charges, the membrane potential will continue to grow. the length of the arrows (green indicating concentration gradient, red indicating voltage), represents the magnitude of potassium ion movement due to each form of energy. the direction of the arrow indicates the direction in which that particular force is applied. thus, the building membrane voltage is an increasing force that acts counter to the tendency for net movement of potassium ions down the potassium concentration gradient.
resting potential