Osmosis – Flashcards

By definition, osmosis is the diffusion of water through a selectively permeable membrane from an area of high water potential (low solute concentration) to and area of low water potential (high solute concentration).

The substance being dissolved in a solution.

For osmosis to occur the membrane must be permeable to water but impermeable to the solute and the concentration of the solute must be different on the two sides of the membrane.

The pressure that is just sufficient to prevent water from moving across the membrane is referred to as osmotic pressure.

This means that two solutions have the same number of particles.

This means that one solution is more concentrated than the other.

This means that one solution is less concentrated than the other.

This is a word used to describe how a solution affects a cell when the cell is placed in it. Whether it swells, shrinks, or stays the same. This is when the cell and extracellular fluid are mixed.

isotonic solutions have the same concentration of osmotically active particles (osmotically active particles are non-permeable particles) as are found in the cell.

if the cell shrinks (crenates) we say the solution was hypertonic.

If the cell swells, we say that the solution was hypotonic.

Osmolarity doesn't take into account the nature of the solutes while tonicity is dependent upon the concentration of the nonpermeable solutes.

Comparing solution to cell WHEN NOT MIXING THEM

Dextrose will Saline(Na+) will not