Bioelectric Effects | Additional Documents & Tests for IIT JAM PDF Download

Bioelectricity refers to the generation or action of electric currents or voltages in biological processes. Bioelectric phenomena include fast signaling in nerves and the triggering of physical processes in muscles or glands. There is some similarity among the nerves, muscles, and glands of all organisms, possibly because fairly efficient electrochemical systems evolved early. Scientific studies tend to focus on the following: nerve or muscle tissue; such organs as the heart, brain, eye, ear, stomach, and certain glands; electric organs in some fish; and potentials associated with damaged tissue.
Electric activity in living tissue is a cellular phenomenon, dependent on the cell membrane. The membrane acts like a capacitor, storing energy as electrically charged ions on opposite sides of the membrane. The stored energy is available for rapid utilization and stabilizes the membrane system so that it is not activated by small disturbances.
Cells capable of electric activity show a resting potential in which their interiors are negative by about 0.1 volt or less compared with the outside of the cell. When the cell is activated, the resting potential may reverse suddenly in sign; as a result, the outside of the cell becomes negative and the inside positive. This condition lasts for a short time, after which the cell returns to its original resting state. This sequence, called depolarization and repolarization, is accompanied by a flow of substantial current through the active cell membrane, so that a “dipole-current source” exists for a short period. Small currents flow from this source through the aqueous medium containing the cell and are detectable at considerable distances from it. These currents, originating in active membrane, are functionally significant very close to their site of origin but must be considered incidental at any distance from it. In electric fish, however, adaptations have occurred, and this otherwise incidental electric current is actually utilized. In some species the external current is apparently used for sensing purposes, while in others it is used to stun or kill prey. In both cases, voltages from many cells add up in series, thus assuring that the specialized functions can be performed. Bioelectric potentials detected at some distance from the cells generating them may be as small as the 20 or 30 microvolts associated with certain components of the human electroencephalogram or the millivolt of the human electrocardiogram. On the other hand, electric eels can deliver electric shocks with voltages as large as 1,000 volts.
In addition to the potentials originating in nerve or muscle cells, relatively steady or slowly varying potentials (often designated dc) are known. These dc potentials occur in the following cases: in areas where cells have been damaged and where ionized potassium is leaking (as much as 50 millivolts); when one part of the brain is compared with another part (up to one millivolt); when different areas of the skin are compared (up to 10 millivolts); within pockets in active glands, e.g., follicles in the thyroid (as high as 60 millivolts); and in special structures in the inner ear (about 80 millivolts).
A small electric shock caused by static electricity during cold, dry weather is a familiar experience. While the sudden muscular reaction it engenders is sometimes unpleasant, it is usually harmless. Even though static potentials of several thousand volts are involved, a current exists for only a brief time and the total charge is very small. A steady current of two milliamperes through the body is barely noticeable. Severe electrical shock can occur above 10 milliamperes, however. Lethal current levels range from 100 to 200 milliamperes. Larger currents, which produce burns and unconsciousness, are not fatal if the victim is given prompt medical care. (Above 200 milliamperes, the heart is clamped during the shock and does not undergo ventricular fibrillation.) Prevention clearly includes avoiding contact with live electric wiring; risk of injury increases considerably if the skin is wet, as the electric resistance of wet skin may be hundreds of times smaller than that of dry skin.