Osmosis Investigation

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Osmosis Investigation

To understand my task, I will first understand the concept of osmosis. Osmosis is the process of water movement from a region of low concentration to a region of high concentration across a semi permeable membrane, which is simply a thin membrane allowing the passage of small molecules. Ex: water molecules.

The solutions of high concentration and low concentration are generally referred to as hypertonic and hypotonic solutions respectively. Hypertonic solutions have less water molecules and thus are said to have lower water potential than hypotonic solutions; in hypertonic solutions, solute molecules (ex: sugar, salts) are dissolved and when this occurs, some water molecules form a cluster around them. Thus, there are less free moving water molecules. Therefore, water potential is simply the measure of whether the solution is likely to gain or lose water; it is also the pressure exerted by the freely moving water molecules. It is measured in kilopascals. (kPa) Therefore, osmosis may also be defined as the water movement from a region of high water potential to a region of low water potential across a semi permeable membrane.

Osmosis is a very important biological process as it involves the transfer