91Ó°ÊÓ

.. BIO Electric Field of Axons. A nerve signal is transmitted through a neuron when an excess of Na+ ions suddenly enters the axon, a long cylindrical part of the neuron. Axons are approximately in diameter, and measurements show that about ions per metre (each of charge +e) enter during this process. Although the axon is a long cylinder, the charge does not all enter everywhere at the same time. A plausible model would be a series of point charges moving along the axon. Consider a length of the axon and model it as a point charge. (a) If the charge that enters each metre of the axon gets distributed uniformly along it, how many coulombs of charge enter a length of the axon? (b) What electric field (magnitude and direction) does the sudden influx of charge produce at the surface of the body if the axon is below the skin? (c) Certain sharks can respond to electric fields as weak as How far from this segment of axon could a shark be

and still detect its electric field?

Step by step solution

01

About Electric field and Charges entry in the length of axon

Electric field can be considered as an electric property associated with each point in the space where a charge is present in any form. An electric field is also described as the electric force per unit charge.

Where

Solve for charge entre onemeterof axon

therefore Charge entre 0.1mm of axon is

Therefore the Charge entre 0.1mm of axon is

02

Determine Net electric force

Solve for net electric force

Therefore the net electric force is

03

 Determine How far from this segment of axon could a shark beand still detect its electric field

Solve For distance r

THerefore The Shark is far from this segment of axon detect its electric field

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