EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Osmosis is a special type of diffusion, namely the diffusion of water across a semipermeable membrane. Water readily crosses a membrane down its potential gradient from high to low potential (Fig. 19.3) [4]. Osmotic pressure is the force required to prevent water movement across the semipermeable membrane.

Detailed explanation-2: -Osmosis is a type of simple diffusion in which water molecules diffuse through a selectively permeable membrane from areas of high water concentration to areas of lower water concentration.

Detailed explanation-3: -Water moves across cell membranes by diffusion, in a process known as osmosis. Osmosis refers specifically to the movement of water across a semipermeable membrane, with the solvent (water, for example) moving from an area of low solute (dissolved material) concentration to an area of high solute concentration.

Detailed explanation-4: -Osmosis is a passive transport process during which water moves from areas where solutes are less concentrated to areas where they are more concentrated.

Detailed explanation-5: -The simplest mechanism by which molecules can cross the plasma membrane is passive diffusion. During passive diffusion, a molecule simply dissolves in the phospholipid bilayer, diffuses across it, and then dissolves in the aqueous solution at the other side of the membrane.