Question

At a neuron's resting potential, the inside of the axon lies about 0.07 V below the outside of the axon. Using the formula for the capacitance you found in the previous problem, how much electric energy to the nearest picojoule (1 pJ = 1x10^-12 J) is stored a 9-cm-long axon at this resting potential? Note the capacitance may differ for different axon lengths.

This electrical energy stored in the membrane due to the potential difference across the membrane is used for fast, passive transport of ions during a nerve pulse. The nerve pulse, as you'll discuss in later labs, is caused by ions rushing across the membrane, driven by this potential difference (or, equivalently, driven by the energy stored in the capacitor, just like the charge being driven through the light bulb by the capacitor in the lab).

Answer 1

Here, I have used the simple concepts of capacitance and electrical energy and then using the necessary formulae regarding those parameters, I have calculated the answers.