Class Exercises

1. Consider a current that increases linearly in 1s from 0 pA to 50 pA and then decreases linearly to 0
pA in the same time.
a. How much charge passes during the entire impulse?
b. How many elementary charges are contained in the charge mentioned in a) ?
2. Consider a resistor of 28 k.
a. What is its conductance?
b. What voltage should be applied to have a 20 mA current?

3. Recalling the resistance of the body with dry hands (100 k), and wet hands with saline (100 ),
calculate for both what the current flowing into the body when connected to a 220 V power source
is. Compare the results with the value of 70 mA, the current lethal for man.
4. A capacitor is composed of two parallel plates, with surface equal to 1 m2 , distant 10 cm each
other. The capacitor is charged with a voltage of 100 V. Then, it is disconnected from the voltage
generator and the distance between the plates is halved. Find the new values of:
a. its capacity;
b. the charge on its plates;
c. the potential difference between the plates.

5. A parallel plate capacitor is connected to a 200 V battery. The surface of the plates is 1 m2 and the
distance between the plates 1 mm. This distance is then increased to 3 mm. In the new
configuration find:
a. the potential difference between the plates;
b. the charge on the capacitor.
6. Consider two conductors with capacities and potentials given by the following values:
1 = 1 F
1 = 200 V
2 = 3 F
2 = 300 V

Find the charge on each conductor.

A tiny wire (with negligible capacity) is then used to connect them. Find their final potential and the
charge on each of them.

7. The battery of a car has a total charge of 50 Ah and generates an electric potential difference of
12 V. When the headlights are turned on, the current provided by the battery is 6 A. Find the
resistance of each lamp (assuming that they are equal and connected in parallel) and the time
required to completely discharge the battery, if the lamps are left lit with the car engine turned off.

8. Consider two resistors (R value of each) connected in parallel and two capacitors (C value of each)
also connected in parallel. These parallel connections are then connected in series and the circuit is
closed with a direct voltage generator.
a. Derive the expression for the characteristic time of the RC circuit created.
b. Compare this characteristic time with that of an RC circuit with resistance R and capacity C.
c. Generalize this result to N resistors (in parallel) and N capacitors (in parallel).
9. Often a voltage divider is used to reduce the voltage at exposed terminals across a particular
instrument and reduce the risk of electrocution.
a. Assuming that the maximum accepted current for the human body (to maintain safety
margins) is 10 mA and knowing that the conductance of the wet hands is 1 mS, what is the
maximum acceptable voltage output from the voltage divider?
b. If the voltage divider receives an input voltage of 24 V, what should be the ratio between
the resistances to meet the demand at point a? (N.B. You are assuming that the load of
the human body does not influence the behaviour of the voltage divider, as in the
conditions of free terminals)
10. Calculate the voltage across a capacitor with parallel flat plates of 0,1 Fcm2 , if the charge
deposited on each surface is 5 nCcm2 .

11. Electric fish are able to generate current with biological cells called electroplaques, which are
physiological emf devices. The electroplaques in the type of electric fish known as a South
American eel are arranged in 140 rows, each row stretching horizontally along the body and each
containing 5000 electroplaques. The arrangement is suggested in the figure; each electroplaque
has an emf of 0.15 V and an internal resistance r of 0.25 . The water surrounding the eel
completes a circuit between the two ends of the electroplaque array, one end at the animal's head
and the other near its tail.
a. If the water surrounding the eel has resistance Rw=800 , what is the current the eel can
produce in the water?
b. What is the current irow travelling through each row?

12. Calculate the voltage across a capacitor with capacitance 0,1 mFdm2 and area 5 cm2 , if the
charge deposited on each surface is 50 C.

13. The squid giant axon is a cylinder of 500 m in diameter. The membrane has a capacity of
1 Fcm2 . If the membrane has a potential of 50 mV, what is the internal charge capacity of the
axon (in Ccm2 )? What is the concentration of charges of the axon (in 1cm3 )? If we assume that
the membrane is a capacitor with two parallel flat plates with a dielectric constant of 3, what would
be the thickness of the membrane?

14. The equilibrium potentials of Na+ and K+ are respectively ENa=+50 mV and EK=-80 mV. Knowing the
membrane potential Em=-70 mV, calculate the ratio GNa/GK between the conductances of Na+ and
K+.
15. The equilibrium potentials of Na+ and K+ are respectively ENa=+60 mV and EK=-83 mV. Assuming the
ratio GK/GNa between the conductances of K+ and Na+ equal to 0.15, calculate the membrane
potential.
16. Assuming that the resistance encountered in an electrical synapse (gap junction) is 7 nm2 ,
calculate the voltage drop in the transjunctional region produced by a current impulse of 100 pA if
the junction is circular with a radius of 3.5 nm or 35 nm.
17. A typical resistivity of axoplasm is = 100 m (just for comparison, = 108 m). Calculate
the resistance of a 1 cm long axon with diameter = 10 m.

18. The inhibitory process by a synapse is based on the shunt effect. Assuming that the membrane
resistance drops by 10 times because of the inhibitory stimulus and the dendritic axial resistance is
10 times the membrane resistance at rest, calculate how much of an incoming excitating impulse of
300 pA escapes across the membrane and how large the impulse transmitted across the synapse
will be.