Cell Diffusion and Osmosis

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Introduction Biological membranes are selectively permeable allowing molecules to move across by means of osmosis and diffusion. The ability of a molecule to move across the membrane depends on charge and size of the molecule and the concentration of molecules on either side of the membrane. In this experiment two types of membrane transport will be studied: osmosis and diffusion. This experiment will also investigate how surface area to volume ratio effects the amount of molecules that can diffuse across the plasma membrane (Biology Department. 2012). Molecules have a form of kinetic energy referred to as thermal motion. A result of thermal motion is diffusion (Campbell. 1993). Diffusion is the tendency of molecules of a substance to diffuse from where it is more concentrated to where it is less concentrated. In general a substance will diffuse down its concentration gradient until concentrations on either side of the membrane is at equilibrium. This metabolic process is called passive transport because it is a spontaneous process and therefore the cell does not expend any energy to make it happen (Campbell. 1993). The diffusion of water across a selectively permeable membrane is known as a special case of passive transport called osmosis (Campbell. 1993). Osmosis is a special case because water will move to the side of the membrane that has a higher concentration of solute. In general water will move from the more dilute, hypoosmotic (hypotonic) solution to the more concentrated, hyperosmotic (hyperotnic) solution(Russell et al. 2010). Osmosis takes place in both plant and animal cells but there are differences between the two processes. When animal cells are in a hypotonic solution they have no way of limiting the uptake of water and will therefore take up water and swell until they burst(Biology Department. 2012). In hypertonic solutions animal cells
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