Lecture 5

By
Umar Aminu Mohammed (Ph.D.)

Dr U. A. Mohammed FUHSA 10/9/2023 1

 OSMOSIS

 Osmosis was first documented by a man called Jean -Antoine

Nollet in 1748.

 French physician René Joachim Henri Dutrochet (1776–1847)

coined the word osmosis.

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 Osmosis is a biophysical process occurring commonly in
biological systems where solvent molecules move across

 a semi-permeable membrane towards a region of high

solute concentration.

 It is also defined as the movement of water molecules

across a semi-permeable membrane

 from region of low concentration to one of high

concentration.

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Figure: Osmosis. Image Source: Open Stax (Rice
University) and Biology Online.

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 • It is a type of passive transport (it doesn’t require energy)
and is directed towards the direction that tends to equalize
 the solute concentration across a semi-permeable membrane.
 • It is a common process taking place in most of the
biological membrane in the organisms.
 • In a biological system, the solvent mostly is water;
however, osmosis can also take place in other liquids and
even gases.

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Figure: A schematic diagram showing how osmosis
works. Image Source: Biology Online.

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 In order to describe the process and mechanism of
osmosis, we take two solutions separated by a semi-
permeable membrane.
 One of the solutions is pure water while the other one is a
solution of some solute and water.
 According to the definition of osmosis, in such a case, pure
water moves across the membrane towards the solute
solution.

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 Temperature
 The rate of osmosis increase with the increase in temperature
of the system.
 This occurs because, with the increase in temperature, the
energy of the molecules also increases.
 Concentration gradient
 As the concentration of solute molecules is essential in the
driving force of osmosis,
 any changes in the concentration directly affect the rate of
osmosis.

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 Water potential/ Solvent potential
 The water potential across a semi-permeable membrane
also influences the rate of osmosis.
 As the water potential of a solution is more, the water
molecules can move across the membrane
 as the pressure exerted by the particles is increased.
 Eventually, the water potential on either side becomes
equal, creating equilibrium.

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 Surface area and thickness of the membrane
 With the increase in surface area, more space will be available
to the molecules for their movement
 which in turn will increase the rate of osmosis.
 Similarly, if the surface area is reduced, less space will be there
for the molecules to move, which will restrict their movement.
 Pressure
 The pressure is an essential factor influencing the process of
osmosis as it might even change the direction of osmosis.

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 There are some types of osmosis on the basis of the
direction of the movement of solvent molecules.

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Image Source: AIChE.

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 Reverse osmosis is different than the forward osmosis in
that reverse osmosis utilized hydraulic pressure
 to force the solvent against the osmotic pressure.
 Forward osmosis is another variation of osmosis where the
osmotic pressure gradient
 is used to induce the flow of water from the sample solution
to separate the solutes.

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Image Source: Toppr.

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 Endosmosis is the movement of water into the cell which
occurs when a cell is placed in a solution having a higher
concentration of water than the cell.
 Exosmosis is the movement of water out of the cell which
occurs when a cell is placed in a solution having a higher
concentration of solute than the cell.
 Cells swell up in size after endosmosis while the cells
shrink after exosmosis.

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 Tonicity is the ability of extracellular solutions to
induce the movement of water in and out of a cell by
the process of osmosis.
 The tonicity of a solution determined the concentration
of solute and solvent molecules in the solution.

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Image Source: Open Stax (Rice University)

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 Hypotonic solution
 If an extracellular solution has less concentration of solute
than that inside the cell, the solution is termed a hypotonic
solution.
 When a cell is placed in a hypotonic solution, the
movement of water occurs into the cell resulting in
endosmosis or turgidity.
 The cell is such a condition will swell up and might even
burst termed cytolysis (bursting of the cell).

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 Hypertonic solution
 If an extracellular solution has more concentration of
solute than that inside the cell, the solution is termed a
hypertonic solution.
 When a cell is placed in a hypertonic solution, the
movement of water occurs out of the cell resulting in
exosmosis or plasmolysis.
 The cell shrinks down, losing the ability to divide, and
even function.

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 Isotonic solution
 When an extracellular solution has the same
concentration of solute as that inside the cell, the
solution is termed an isotonic solution.
 When a cell is placed in an isotonic solution, no
movement of water occurs across the cell membrane.
 In this case, the size of the cell is not influenced as no
movement of water takes place.

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 Osmotic pressure is the pressure applied by a hypotonic
pressure that results in the movement of
 solvent molecules across the semi-permeable membrane.
 It is the minimum pressure that should be applied to the
solution to prevent the inwards flow of
 pure solvent across the semi-permeable membrane.
 Osmotic pressure is the driving force of osmosis and the rate
of osmosis increases as the osmotic pressure increases.

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Image Source: Pharmaceuticalmicrobiologi.

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Osmosis has the following significances in the chemical and biological
systems:
 Osmosis is responsible for the transportation of nutrients into the cell
and waste materials out of the cell.
 Osmosis influences the transport of water from the soil into the roots
of plants which is then conducted to different parts of the cell via the
xylem tissue.
 The internal environment of the cell in living organisms is stabilized
by the balance between water and the intracellular fluid levels.

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 Osmosis is also responsible for maintaining the turgidity of

the cell.

 Osmosis in plants prevents the cells from drying out as a

result of water loss by transpiration.

 The cell to cell diffusion of water and other cellular fluids is

also maintained by osmosis.

 The movement of plants and plant parts is regulated by the

turgidity of the cell, which in turn is balanced by osmosis.

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 An increased osmotic pressure supports the plants in
the desert areas against drought and other such injuries.
 Reverse osmosis and forwards osmosis are methods of
separation used in the purification of drinking water,
desalination, wastewater purification,
 the concentration of liquid foods like juices, production
of maple syrups, low alcohol beer and hydrogen
peroxide.

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 In the animal cells
 Osmosis influences the shape and size of animal cells as there is no
cell wall in animal cells.
 The red blood cells in humans are highly influenced by the osmotic
pressure of blood. If the blood is too dilute, the RBCs shrink in size
while they swell up and even burst if the blood is concentrated.
 Thus, in animals, the concentration of body fluids; blood plasma and
tissue fluid, should be kept within strict limits.
 Another example of osmosis in animals is the shrinking of slugs on
exposure to salt.

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 In the plant cells
 The root system in plants takes up water from the soil via
osmosis.
 The cells in the root of the plants have a semi-permeable
membrane that allows the water in the soil
 to infiltrate into the roots influencing the guard cells.
 Another classic example of osmosis in plants is the swelling
up and shrinking of potato cells
 when slices of potato are dipped in a hypotonic solution and
hypertonic solutions respectively.


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 Diffusion is the movement of particles (atoms, ions or
molecules) from a region in which they are in higher
concentration to regions of lower concentration.
 It is an important process occurring in all living beings.
Diffusion helps in the movement of substances in and out of the
cells.
 The molecules move from a region of higher concentration to a
region of lower concentration until the concentration becomes
equal throughout.

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 Liquid and gases undergo diffusion as the molecules
are able to move randomly.

Image source: byjus.com

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 Example:

 Take water in a beaker. Add a few copper sulfate crystals in

one place and leave it as it is for some time without
disturbing it.

 After some time we can see that the beaker contains a

uniformly coloured solution.

 Here, both water and copper sulfate diffuse independently.

 With this experiment, we can infer that solutes move from a

higher concentration to a lower concentration in a solution.

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 Diffusion is widely used in various fields such as
biology, physics, chemistry, etc.
 Diffusion can be classified into two main types:
 Simple diffusion and facilitated diffusion.

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 A process in which the substance moves through a
semipermeable membrane or in a solution without any
help from transport proteins.
 For example, bacteria deliver small nutrients, water and
oxygen into the cytoplasm through simple diffusion.

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Image Source: Khan Academy

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 Facilitated diffusion is a passive movement of
molecules across the cell membrane
 from the region of higher concentration to the region of
lower concentration by means of a carrier molecule.

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Image Source: byjus.com

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 There are a few factors that affect the process of diffusion,
which individually and collectively alters the rate and extent of
diffusion.
 These factors include:
 Temperature.
 Area of Interaction.
 Size of the Particle.
 The steepness of the concentration gradient.

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 A tea bag immersed in a cup of hot water will diffuse
into the water and change its colour.
 A spray of perfume or room freshener will get diffused
into the air by which we can sense the odour.
 Sugar gets dissolved evenly and sweetens the water
without having to stir it.

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 During the process of respiration, this process helps
in diffusing the carbon dioxide gas out through the cell
membrane into the blood.
 Diffusion also occurs in plant cells.
 In all green plants, water present in the soil diffuses into
plants through their root hair cells.
 The movement of ions across the neurons that generates
electrical charge is due to diffusion.

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 Osmosis vs Diffusion
Basis for comparison Diffusion Osmosis

Simple diffusion is a type of passive transport in Osmosis is a type of passive transport occurring commonly in
which the movement of solute occurs when its biological systems where solvent molecules move across a
Definition
electrochemical potentials on the two sides of a semi-permeable membrane towards a region of high solute
permeable barrier are different. concentration.

Diffusion occurs through any permeable

Nature of the membrane Osmosis requires a semi-permeable membrane.
membrane.

Nature of the process Diffusion is a passive process. Osmosis is also a passive process.

Diffusion can take place in all mediums (solid,

Medium Osmosis only occurs in a liquid medium.
liquid, and gas).

Type of diffusing The moving molecules can be either of solid,

The moving molecules in osmosis are always liquid molecules.
molecules liquid or gases.

Rate of the process Diffusion is faster than osmosis. Osmosis is slower than diffusion.

The driving force of diffusion is the

Driving force The driving force of osmosis is osmotic pressure.
concentration gradient.

Direction of movement Diffusion takes place in all directions. Osmosis takes place in one direction.

Diffusion cannot be stopped or reversed by any Osmosis can be stopped and even reversed by applying
Control of the process
pressure. pressure equal to or more than the osmotic pressure.

Diffusion can take place between similar or

Types of solution Osmosis takes place only between two similar solutions.
dissimilar solutions
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 Cheers!
See you soon

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