mV for sodium (ENa)and −80 mV for potassium (EK). Thus the membrane potential will not be right at EK, but rather depolarized from EK by an amount of approximately 5% of the 140 mV difference between EK and ENa. Thus, the cell's resting potential will be about −73 mV. In a more formal notation, the membrane potential is the weighted average of each contributing ion's equilibrium potential. The size of each weight is the relative conductance of each ion. In the normal case, where three ions contribute to the membrane potential: , where Em is the membrane potential, measured in volts EX is the equilibrium potential for ion X, also in volts gX/gtot is the relative conductance of ion X, which is dimensionless gtot is the total conductance of all permeant ions in arbitrary units (e.g. siemens for electrical conductance), in this case gK+ + gNa+ + gCl− Membrane transport proteins For determination of membrane potentials, the two most important types of membrane ion transport proteins are ion channels and ion transporters. Ion channel proteins create paths across cell membranes through which ions can passively diffuse without direct expenditure of metabolic energy. They have selectivity for certain ions, thus, there are potassium-, chloride-, and sodium-selective ion channels. Different cells and even different parts of one cell (dendrites, cell bodies, nodes of Ranvier) will have different amounts of various ion transport proteins. Typically, the amount of certain potassium channels is most important for control of the resting potential (see below). Some ion pumps such as the Na+/K+-ATPase are electrogenic, that is, they produce charge imbalance across the cell membrane and can also contribute directly to the membrane potential. Most pumps use metabolic energy (ATP) to function. Equilibrium potentials For most animal cells potassium ions (K+) are the most important for the resting potential. Due to the active transport of potassium ions, the concentration of potassium is higher inside cells than outside. Most cells have potassium-selective ion channel proteins that remain open all the time. There will be net movement of positively charged potassium ions through these potassium channels with a resulting accumulation of excess negative charge inside of the cell. The outward movement of positively charged potassium ions is due to random molecular motion (diffusion) and continues until enough excess negative charge accumulates inside the cell to form a membrane potential which can balance the difference in concentration of potassium between