Osmosis Theory

 All cells are surrounded by a cell membrane which is partially permeable

 Water can move in and out of cells by osmosis

 Osmosis is the net movement of water molecules from a region of higher water

potential (dilute solution) to a region of lower water potential (concentrated solution),

through a partially permeable membrane

 In doing this, water is moving down its concentration gradient

 The cell membrane is partially permeable which means it allows small molecules (like

water) through but not larger molecules (like solute molecules)

Osmosis and the partially permeable membrane

 It can get a little confusing to talk about the 'concentration of water' when we also talk

about solutions being ‘concentrated’ (having a lot of solutes in them) so instead, we can

say that a dilute solution has a high-water potential (the right-hand side of the diagram
 below) and a concentrated solution has a low water potential (the left-hand side of the

diagram below):

Osmosis and the partially permeable membrane

Isotonic solution
An Isotonic solution is one in which the solute concentrations inside and outside of the cell are
the same (iso means equal in Latin). Due to the balance of concentrations of solute and water
both inside and outside of the cell there is no large movement of water in one direction. The rate
of movement of water molecules is the same in both directions. The same amount of water
molecules moving into the cell is the same amount moving out so therefore there is no change in
the size of the cell.

Hypotonic Solution

A hypotonic solution is a solution in which the solute concentration outside of the cell is lower
than the solute concentration inside of the cell. Therefore, the water concentration outside of the
cell is higher than the water concentration inside of the cell (the prefix hypo is Latin
for under or below). This causes water to move from out of the solution and into the cell,
causing the cell to swell.

Hypertonic Solution

In Latin, the prefix hyper means over or above. Hypertonic solutions have a higher solute

concentration in the solution than inside the cell, therefore, the water concentration outside of the
cell is lower than the water concentration inside of the cell. This causes water to rush out making
the cell wrinkle or shrivel.
 Osmosis in cells

Water potential indicates how concentrated a solution is

 It can get a little confusing to talk about the concentration of water

 Instead, we can talk about osmosis in terms of water potential

o Water potential is the potential (likelihood) of water molecules to diffuse out

of or into a solution

 A concentrated solution (of sugar) has a low concentration of water molecules and

a low water potential

o It is highly likely for water molecules to move into the concentrated sugar

solution
o A dilute solution (of sugar) has a high concentration of water molecules and

a high-water potential

o It is less likely for water molecules to move into the dilute sugar solutionIt helps

to remember that pure water has the highest water potential of any solution.

How osmosis works

 Osmosis in Animal Cells Animal cells lose and gain water as a result of osmosis.

 As animal cells do not have a supporting cell wall, the results of osmosis can be severe

 If an animal cell is placed into a strong sugar solution (with a lower water potential than

the cell), it will lose water by osmosis and become crenated (shrivelled up)

 If an animal cell is placed into distilled water (with a higher water potential than the

cell), it will gain water by osmosis as it has no cell wall to create turgor pressure

 It will continue to gain water until the cell membrane is stretched too far and it bursts.

Effect of osmosis on animal cells

Osmosis and the human body

 It is important that osmosis is carefully controlled in organisms to avoid damage to cells

through lysis

 The human body is adapted to maintain the optimum osmotic balance using processes

such as sweating or increasing and decreasing urine concentration

o This is all part of osmoregulation

Osmosis in Plant Cells

 Plant cells loss or gain water as a result of osmosis

 As plant cells have a supporting cell wall, they are protected from cell lysis

 If a plant cell is placed into a strong sugar solution (with a lower water potential than

the cell), it will lose water by osmosis

o The vacuole gets smaller and the cell membrane shrivels away from the cell

wall

o It becomes flaccid or plasmolysed (shrivelled up)

 If a plant cell is placed into distilled water (with a higher water potential than the cell), it

will gain water by osmosis

o The vacuole gets bigger, pushing the cell membrane against the cell wall

o The plant cell is described as being turgid or as containing a high turgor

pressure (the pressure of the cytoplasm pushing against the cell wall)

 The effect of osmosis on plant cells

Osmosis and plant cells

 Water entering the cell by osmosis makes the cell rigid and firm

 This is important for plants as the effect of all the cells in a plant being firm is to provide

support and strength for the plant - making the plant stand upright with its leaves held

out to catch sunlight

 If plants do not receive enough water the cells cannot remain rigid and firm (turgid) and

the plant wilts.