Osmosis Case

Osmosis is important to many processes in living organisms. It is the movement of water molecules in a cell from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Its purpose is to keep an equilibrium between the inside and outside of a cell's environment through the use of a semi-permeable membrane that selectively allows water molecules to enter or exit the cell.

Osmosis has many practical uses in the process of life. Plants need osmosis to be able to absorb water. Osmosis helps animals regulate the nutrients and water in the body; on the other hand, osmotic pressure makes sure that waste products built up in the cell flow out. Factories use a process called reverse osmosis to purify water and preserve food. Without osmosis, life may not be possible as it is a very important cycle in our daily living.

This phenomenon called osmosis shows liquids that are pure move through a cell membrane, so that these will be able to reach a place containing a higher concentration than the cell. This process is just actually when the solvent tends to go through the semi-permeable membrane and to be able to go to the region containing the solution. The main aim of the solvent is to have equilibrium in and out of the cell. (Chemistry for Health Sciences, Sackheim & Lehman, 1998)

This process is meant for both solutions to reach equilibrium. Therefore, the sugar solution in the funnel rose since the solution in the beaker had a higher water solution. The water molecules of the high water concentration area (the beaker) moved into the funnel with the low water concentration through the semi-permeable dialysis tubing to equally diffuse the water molecules. (Biology Separate Award by Byron Dawson, Ian Honeysett, 2001)