Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Variations on Negative Stain Electron Microscopy Methods: Tools for Tackling Challenging Systems
Published on: February 6, 2018
THE VARIATION OF ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE WITH APPLIED POTENTIAL : II. THIN COLLODION FILMS
1Laboratories of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.
Abstract:
The resistance of very thin collodion membranes to direct current bears some resemblance to that of living cells since it varies with the applied potential. With membranes separating two different solutions the resistance varies with the direction (and the voltage) of the applied potential, rising when less mobile ions are carried across the membrane and falling when more mobile ones are so carried. (With some membranes the resistance varies with potential when the same solution is on both sides.) These changes are very prompt and regular. There is a hysteretic effect of previous current flow. But the membranes differ from Valonia cells in that the rise of resistance is largely ohmic, there being little or no polarization potential.
Related Concept Videos
The Electrical Double Layer
Electrical Conductivity
In a practical conductor, an applied electric field may be sustained, causing a flow of electrons, which produce a current. The differential form of the current, the current density, is related to the electric field.
More generally, it is related to the force per unit charge, which involves the...
Resistance
Processes at Electrodes
The Hall Effect
Ohm's Law

