Equal Extracellular oOoooo00 Cytoplasmic side +, O.9 Source: Barrett KE, Barman SM, Boitano S, Brooks HL Ganong'sReviewofMedicalPhysiologywww.accessmedicine.com Copyright c The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. a membrane potential results from separation of positive and negative charges across the cell membrane The excess of positive charges(red circles)outside the cell and negative charges(blue circles) inside the cell at rest represents a small fraction of the total number of ions presentA membrane potential results from separation of positive and negative charges across the cell membrane. The excess of positive charges (red circles) outside the cell and negative charges (blue circles) inside the cell at rest represents a small fraction of the total number of ions present