Electric Impedance of Suspensions of Arbacia Eggs

Apparatus has been designed and constructed for the measurement of the electric impedance of suspensions of Arbacia eggs in sea water to alternating currents of frequencies from one thousand to fifteen million cycles per second. This apparatus is simple, rugged, compact, accurate, and rapid. The data lead to the conclusions that the specific resistance of the interior of the egg is about 90 ohm cm. or 3.6 times that of sea water, and that the impedance of the surface of the egg is probably similar to that of a "polarization capacity". The characteristics of this surface impedance can best be determined by measurements of the capacity and resistance of suspensions of eggs. No specific change has been found in the interior resistance or the surface impedance which can be related either to membrane formation or to cell division.