Nernst potential

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help improve this article or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since March 2006. (help, talk)

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Nernst equation. (Discuss)

The potential level across the cell membrane that exactly opposes net diffusion of a particular ion through the membrane is called the Nernst potential for that ion. The magnitude of the Nernst potential is determined by the ratio of the concentrations of that specific ion on the two sides of the membrane. The greater this ratio, the greater the tendency for the ion to diffuse in one direction, and therefore the greater the Nernst potential required to prevent the diffusion.