Osmosis

    Cards (4)

    • Water may move across cell membranes via osmosis. Osmosis is the diffusion of water from a dilute solution to a concentrated solution through a partially permeable membrane.
    • Partially permeable membrane
      • A partially permeable membrane allows water through, but won't let larger molecules dissolved in water pass through.
    • Water movement
      • Water will move to make the concentrations the same on both sides of the membrane:
      • When there are lots of water molecules (in a dilute solution) on one side of a partially permeable membrane, but not many on the other side (in a concentrated solution), water will move from the dilute to the concentrated solution.
    • Net movement of water
      • It is important to remember that water molecules will move through the membrane in both directions, but the net (overall) movement of water will be from the dilute solution to a concentrated solution.
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