Vm

Vm is an abbreviation used in several fields, most commonly for virtual machine in computing and for membrane potential in biology. Other uses exist in software and hardware contexts.

Virtual machine: A software abstraction that emulates a physical computer, running an independent operating system on a hypervisor. Types include system VMs and process VMs; components are hypervisor, guest OS, and virtual hardware. Benefits: isolation, portability, and flexible resource use; commonly used for server consolidation, cloud services, development, and testing. Drawbacks include overhead and management complexity.

Membrane potential: Vm denotes the electrical potential difference across a cell membrane, measured in millivolts. In neurons, resting Vm is typically around -70 mV; action potentials produce rapid fluctuations. Vm arises from ion gradients and selective permeability, described by the Nernst and Goldman equations; measurements are made via electrophysiology or patch-clamp.

Other uses: In enterprise software, Vm can refer to Veritas Volume Manager; in some contexts vm is shorthand for virtual memory, a memory-management technique.