Question

when one cation moves out of a cell, what happens?

Answer 1

An ion who has net positive electrical charge on it can be termed as a cation. An example of such cation is Potassium. So in a cell when a cation like potassium moves out if the cell a chemical gradient is created to move out the cation to make a balance of the chemical concentration on the outside of the cell. But when the cation like potassium is pushed out if the cell, it is attracted back by the negatively charged molecules present inside of the cell and this creates an electrical gradient. This process of the movement of cation in and out of the cell by chemical and electrical gradients in the opposite direction leads to the formation of electrochemical gradient. This electrochemical gradient decides the amount of cation like potassium moves in and out of the cell through potassium channels until an equilibrium is obtained by the cell.