An intravenous injection of potassium can cause death within a minute. From what you have learned about the resting membrane potential and action potential in chapter 7, how do you think it interferes with cellular function to cause death so fast?

Place the following events in chronological order from 1-8: Nat enters the cell, and depolarization occurs to approximately +30 mV. The voltage across the cell membrane is -70 mV, the resting membrane potential. Upon reaching the peak of the action potential, the VG Nat channels are inactivated by the closing of their inactivation gate and the activation gate of each VG K channel opens. VG K channels close by the closing of their activation gate, and the resting membrane potential is gradually restored. An excitatory post-synaptic potential depolarizes the membrane to threshold and the activation gate of VG Nat channels open. Upon returning to the resting membrane potential, VG Na channels are reset by opening of the inactivation gate and the closing of the activation gate. VG K+ channels are slow to close, resulting in an excess of K* efflux and hyperpolarization. Depolarization occurs as K+ flows out of the cell.

Acetylcholine is an excitatory neurotransmitter that is responsible for initiating muscle movement. Consider the scenario where a mouse was bitten by a snake that injected venom into their circulatory system. The venom has an inhibitory effect on the reuptake of acetylcholine from the synaptic cleft. Explain how the mouse’s body would respond to the venom as well as the venoms effect at the cellular level.

A taser is a device used by police to control unruly criminals by delivering a large electrical current into the body. This electrical current is able to temporarily paralyze the criminal. A Biology 30 student hypothesizes that this temporary paralysis is caused by the neurons in the body all simultaneously becoming unable to engage in a refractory period. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Provide your rationale from the point of view of Na+ ion and K+ ion movement OR from the point of view of processes that do or do not occur properly in the criminal's neural synapses.