A model of a red blood cell portrays the cell as a spherical capacitor, a positively charged liquid sphere of surface area A separated from the surrounding negatively charged fluid by a membrane of thickness t. Tiny electrodes introduced into the interior of the cell show a potential difference of 100 mV across the membrane. The membrane's thickness is estimated to be 99 nanometer and has a dielectric constant of 5.00.
(a) If an average red blood cell has a mass of 1e-12 kilogram, compute the volume of the cell and thus find its surface area. The density of blood is 1100 kg/m3.
Volume=____________________ m^3
Surface Area=__________________m^2
(b) Compute the capacitance of the cell by assuming the membrane surfaces act as parallel plates.
____________________ F
(c) Find the charge on the surface of the membrane.
_________________________C
(d) Determine how many electronic (elementary) charges does the surface charge represent?