Consider a phospholipid bilayer membrane consisting of a mixture of 90% uncharge

Question

Consider a phospholipid bilayer membrane consisting of a mixture of 90% uncharged lipid and 10% of singly charged acid lipid. Under physiological conditions, the charged lipids are negative. Also assume that they are uniformly distributed. The membrane is in contact with an aqueous solution in which is dissolved NaCl at 25 C. Use the results of the previous problem to define the extent and size of the screening charge cloud formed by the excess concentration, c, of Na+ ions that extends a distance D from the surface of the cell membrane.

Compute the electric field inside the screening cloud E(x), formed by the excess positive charge from the Na+ ions, a distance x from the surface of the positively charged membrane using Gauss’ law. Assume that the field in the cloud is along the x-direction, perpendicular to the surface of a cell membrane, and that the solution is pure water with NaCl added to it. Write E in terms of the charge per unit area on the membrane, (), the distance from the membrane (x), the dielectric constant (D), the concentration of ions (c), an any appropriate physical constants (like K, kB, e, 0).

Explanation / Answer

It's a question of the Physics.. sorry not of the chemistry!

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