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when we were kids growing up in west

texas our winters would be cold but

rarely experienced snow but we did have

ice which resulted in the roads being

salted as the salt mixes in and

dissolves into water on the road this

can lead to a lower freezing point which

can help prevent the roads from icing

over and while this is great for making

the roads more safe it wasn't so great

for the plants that lived right along

the roadside it often cause them to die

now winter can be hard for many plant

species but i'm talking about the salt

affecting even some hardy plant life

this issue with salt and plants isn't

limited to winter during hurricanes near

the coast salty ocean water can be

dumped in large quantities into the soil

this can eventually kill plants

including trees that had originally

survived the hurricane

why do plants just dislike salt that

much

well it's actually related to a term

called osmosis

when you are talking about osmosis you

are talking about the movement of water

through a semi-permeable membrane like a

cell membrane water molecules are so

small that they can travel through the

cell membrane unassisted or they can

travel in larger quantities through

protein channels like aquaporins the

movement of water molecules traveling

across a cell membrane is passive

transport which means it does not

require energy in osmosis water

molecules travel from areas of a high

concentration of water molecules to a

low concentration of water molecules but

there's another way to think about water

movement in osmosis a low water

concentration likely means there is a

greater solute concentration

solutes are substances like salt or

sugar they can be dissolved within a

solvent like water

water has the tendency to move to areas

where there is a higher solute

concentration which would mean less

water concentration so if you want to

easily figure out where the water will

travel in osmosis look to the side where

there is a greater solute concentration

unless we bring in another variable like

pressure water will generally have a net

movement to the area of higher solute

concentration

so let's bring out a youtube

youtube that's funny there's a

semi-permeable membrane in the middle of

it let's assume that it is similar to a

cell membrane in that water molecules

can squeeze through it the molecules are

quite small but salt can't right now

there's just water in this youtube the

water levels on side a and side b are

equal that doesn't mean that the water

molecules aren't moving water molecules

like to move but the net movement across

the two sides is zero that means the

overall change in direction of movement

is zero now let's imagine on side b you

dump a huge amount of salt there so

which direction will the water initially

move towards

or b

think about what we mentioned with

osmosis

the answer

is b side b has a higher solute

concentration than side a water moves to

areas of higher solute concentration

which is also the area of lower water

concentration

you will also see the water level on

side b rise as the water moves to that

area you can almost think of the water

as trying to equalize the concentrations

diluting side b once equilibrium is

reached the net movement of water across

the two sides will be zero but remember

that water still likes to move and

movement still occurs

now here's some vocabulary to add in

here

we call side b hypertonic that means

higher solute concentration but we can't

just say something is hypertonic without

comparing it to something else we say

side b is hypertonic to side a because

it has a higher solute concentration

than side a

in osmosis water moves to the hypertonic

side we say side a is hypotonic hypo

rhymes with low which helps me remember

that it's the low solute concentration

when compared to side b

let's get a little more real life now

instead of just the youtube as you know

water is important for your body and

many processes that occur in the body

when someone gets an iv in a hospital it

might look like the fluid in the iv is

just pure water but it is certainly not

pure water that would be a disaster

because of osmosis let's explain let's

say hypothetically pure water was in an

iv now an iv tube typically runs through

a vein so that you have access to your

bloodstream

really useful for running medication

through blood actually consists of many

different types of components and red

blood cells are a great example so what

do you think has a higher solute

concentration the hypothetical pure

water in this iv tube or the red blood

cells

well cells are not empty vessels they

contain solutes the pure water that

hypothetically is running through this

iv tube has no solutes so where does the

water go

it goes to the area of higher solute

concentration

which in this case is inside the cells

the cells are hypertonic compared to the

pure water in the iv tube because the

cells have a greater solute

concentration the cells would swell and

possibly burst exploding red blood cells

are not good if a person needs fluids

they typically will receive a solution

that is isotonic to their blood plasma

isotonic means equal concentration so

you won't have any swelling or shrinking

red blood cells another example let's

talk about the aquarium i have always

wanted a saltwater fish tank ever since

i was a little kid but i've only had

freshwater tanks so far i did often

question when i was a kid why is it that

a saltwater fish can't be in a

freshwater tank well let me explain one

reason why this would be dangerous to

the saltwater fish and how it relates to

osmosis

first ask where is the higher solute

concentration

in the saltwater fish cells or in the

fresh water that the fish would be

hypothetically placed in

definitely in the saltwater fish cells

so where would the water go

it goes to the area where there is a

higher solute concentration the

hypertonic side so it goes into the

cells of that poor saltwater fish if not

rescued it could die now one thing to

clarify saltwater fish and freshwater

fish are not necessarily isotonic to

their surroundings but they have special

adaptations that allow them to live in

their environment and usually cannot

make a major switch from a saltwater

environment to a freshwater one

now not all fish have this problem there

are some fish that have this amazing

adaptation to switch between fresh and

salt water and they have to deal with

this osmosis problem salmon for example

i think if i could pick to be a fish i'd

be a salmon

osmosis explains how many kinds of

plants get their water sure many plants

have roots but how does the water get

into the roots when it rains the soil

becomes saturated with water the root

hair cells generally have a higher

concentration of solutes within them

than the solute concentration in the

saturated soil the water travels into

the root hair cells as the root hair

cells are hypertonic compared to the

hypotonic soil by the way you may wonder

well why don't those root hair cells

burst with all the water that's going in

them

that brings us to our next osmosis topic

and why plant cell walls are amazing so

let's bring in another variable that can

influence osmosis

pressure potential

this is when it's very useful to

understand how one can calculate water

potential water potential considers both

solute potential

and pressure potential

in osmosis water travels to areas of

lower water potential so the formula is

water potential is equal to the pressure

potential plus the solute potential

adding solute actually causes the solute

potential to have a negative value and

the overall water potential to lower

water will travel to areas of lower

water potential but exerting pressure

can raise the pressure potential a

positive value therefore raising the

total water potential

so let's give a quick example in the

popular water potential and potato cores

lab all kinds of neat variations of this

lab procedure exist online you can

calculate the water potential in potato

cores using the water potential formula

when a potato core is first put into

distilled water that's pure water the

potato core cells start to gain water

you'd expect that the water is moving

towards the higher solute concentration

thanks to their higher solute

concentration they have a lower solute

potential

that means a lower total water potential

than the surroundings and water travels

to areas of lower water potential but

over time as the potato core cells gain

water the water that is entered exerts

pressure against the plant cell walls

from inside the plant cells therefore

raising the overall water potential in

the potato core cells we want to point

out that this turgor pressure that

results in plant cells thanks to osmosis

and plant cell walls is critical for

overall plant structure and the ability

of plants to grow upright and not wilt

turgor pressure is definitely something

to explore in summary where would living

organisms be without osmosis

after all it involves movement of one of

our very valuable resources water

well that's it for the amoeba sisters

and we remind you to stay curious

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