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![Creating a Voltage Across a Cell Membrane](../../../../../../../../../figures.boundless-cdn.com/15618/full/figure-21-07-02a.jpeg)
Creating a Voltage Across a Cell Membrane
The semipermeable membrane of a cell has different concentrations of ions inside and out. Diffusion moves the K+ and Cl− ions in the direction shown, until the Coulomb force halts further transfer. This results in a layer of positive charge on the outside, a layer of negative charge on the inside, and thus a voltage across the cell membrane. The membrane is normally impermeable to Na+.
Source
Boundless vets and curates high-quality, openly licensed content from around the Internet. This particular resource used the following sources:
"OpenStax College, College Physics. December 6, 2012."
http://cnx.org/content/m42352/latest/?collection=col11406/1.7
OpenStax CNX
CC BY 3.0.