Becker's World of the Cell 9th Edition by Lewis Kleinsmith, Jeff Hardin, Gregory Paul Bertoni

Exercise 3

Patch Clamping. Patch-clamp instruments enable researchers to measure the opening and closing of a single channel in a membrane. A typical acetylcholine receptor channel passes about 5 pA (picoamperes)of ionic current (1 picoampere = 10 -12 ampere)over a period of about 5 msec at -60 mV.
(a)Given that an electrical current of 1 A is about 6.2 × 10 18 electrical charges per second, how many ions (potassium or sodium)pass through the channel during the time it is open
(b)Do you think the opening of a single receptor channel would be sufficient to depolarize a postsynaptic membrane Why or why not