Edit page | Page history | Printable version

Definition

noun

(1) The local space rate of change of the potential with respect to displacement.

(2) The net difference in electric charge across a cell membrane.

Supplement

Word origin: potential: from Late Latin potentiālis, powerful, from Latin potentia, power; gradient: from Latin gradiens, present participle of gradior (“‘to step, to walk’”).

Synonym: electric gradient.