Definition: A portion of a line which starts at a point and goes off in a particular direction to infinity. Try this Adjust the ray below by dragging an orange dot and see how the ray AB behaves. Point A is the ray's endpoint.
Plant cell cross-section, showing the membrane. Animal cell cross-section, showing the membrane. Resting membrane potential is the difference in voltage of the fluids inside a cell and outside a cell, which is usually between -70 to -80 millivolts (mV). View slideshow of images above.
The resting membrane potential. Imagine taking two electrodes and placing one on the outside and the other on the inside of the plasma membrane of a living cell. If you did this, you would measure an electrical potential difference, or voltage, between the electrodes. This electrical potential difference is called the membrane potential.