What Is Osmosis
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MBOTAKE LawsonWhat Is Osmosis
Uploaded by
MBOTAKE LawsonWhat is Osmosis?
The process by which solvent molecules pass from a solution of lower
concentration to a solution of higher concentration through a semipermeable
membrane. It is a passive process which takes place without any expenditure
of energy. The transport of solvent molecules continues from low to high
concentration regions till the concentration on either side of the membrane is
equal.
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What is a Semipermeable Membrane?
It is a thin barrier between two solutions that permits certain components of the
solutions, generally the solvent, to pass through.
Types of Osmosis
Generally, there are two types of osmosis. These are
Endosmosis: If a cell is placed in a hypotonic solution, water moves inside
the cell making it swell or deplasmolysed. This happens because the solute
concentration of the solution is less than the concentration inside the cell. This
process is known as endosmosis.
Example: Raisins swell when placed in normal water.
Exosmosis: If a cell is placed in a hypertonic solution, the water inside the cell
moves outside and thus the cell plasmolysis (becomes flaccid). This happens
because the solute concentration in the solution is more than the concentration
inside the cytoplasm. This process is known as exosmosis.
Example: Raisins placed in a concentrated salt solution shrivel.
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There are also Two other Variants of Osmosis which has Been Observed:
Reverse Osmosis: It can be defined as a separation process which uses
pressure to force a solvent through a semipermeable membrane that retains
the solute on one side and makes the solvent pass through the other side. It
uses pressure to force the solvent to move from a high solute concentration
region to a low solute concentration region. So reverse osmosis can be
referred to as the opposite of general osmosis.
Application: It is used to remove major contaminants from water by pushing
water through a semipermeable membrane under pressure.
Forward Osmosis: It is a natural phenomenon which uses a semi-permeable
membrane to separate dissolved solutes from water.
Application: Desalination of water, waste-water treatment, osmotic power
generation.
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Osmosis in a Plant Cell
If a cell is put in a hypertonic solution which is more concentrated than the cell,
it will shrink due to loss of water and eventually die. For example, if a piece of
carrot is put in a solution of salty water it will become soft and limp as the cells
would shrivel
In contrast, if the carrot piece is put in an isotonic solution, it would swell and
expand. Generally, a normal cell would burst, but the rigid cell wall in the carrot
cell protects it from rupturing.
As the water enters the cell, it expands, until it creates a maximum pressure
on the cell wall to expand more. However, the cell wall pushes back with equal
pressure and no more water can enter.
Osmosis plays an important role in the transport of water in plants. Solute
concentrations increase as they move from soil to root cells and then to leaf
cells. The difference in pressure helps to push water upwards. Osmosis also
controls the evaporation of water from leaves by regulating the size of the
stomata on the leaf surface.
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The Importance of Osmosis:
In Plants:
Osmosis helps in maintaining water content within a plant cell
It provides turgidity to softer cells of a plant body.
Osmosis controls the absorption of water by root hairs from the soil.
It controls the conduction of water from xylem elements to adjacent cells
Higher osmotic pressure provides resistance to plants against drought
injury
In Animals:
Osmosis regulates the flow of dissolved solids, liquids and gases across
cells.
The semi-permeable membrane that encloses the cell selectively allows
substances to pass in and out of the cell. This assists in releasing toxic
metabolic waste products such as urea.
Osmosis also helps in absorbing water from the intestines to the blood.
The Significance of Osmosis:
Osmosis plays an important role in the transportation of nutrients and
release of metabolic waste products within a living cell.
It stabilises the internal movement of water and intracellular fluid levels
within a cell.
Osmosis also controls cell to cell diffusion and maintains the mechanical
structure of a cell.
In plants, growing root tips remain turgid and can penetrate easily into
the soil because of osmosis.
Osmosis plays a major role in the germination of seeds.
Examples of Osmosis and Diffusion:
Examples of Osmosis:
The absorption of water by plant roots from the soil.
The guard cells of a plant cell are affected by osmosis. When a plant cell
is filled with water the guard cells swell up for the stomata to open and
let out excess water
If you keep your fingers in water for a long time, they become prune.
The reason behind this is that the skin absorbs water and expands.
Examples of Diffusion
A drop of food colouring diffuses throughout the water in a glass.
If you put a sugar cube in water it will eventually dissolve and sweeten
the water.
Hint: The digestion of proteins in the human body starts in the stomach where protein
digesting enzymes and appropriate medium is present.
Complete answer:
The digestion of food is the conversion of complex food particles into the simpler ones for
their easier absorption and utilization by the body. Food is first ingested through the buccal
cavity or mouth where a carbohydrate digesting enzyme called salivary amylase is present
which breaks down the complex carbohydrate onto disaccharide called maltose. The food
then, from the buccal cavity reaches the stomach through the esophagus by peristaltic
movement. No digestion takes place in the esophagus.
Then the digestion of proteins starts in the stomach only and thus stomach is also known as
a site for protein digestion. Gastric glands are present in the lining of the stomach which are
known to produce three secretions:
> Hydrochloric acid
> Mucous which lines the stomach and protect it from acidic nature of Hydrochloric acid
> Protein digesting enzyme called as Pepsin in its proactive form
The digestion of proteins is initiated by the enzyme Pepsin in the stomach. It is present in a
pro-enzyme proactive form called pepsinogen which gets converted to pepsin in the
presence of hydrochloric acid which is secreted by gastric glands in the stomach. The pepsin
breaks the protein into small chains of proteases and peptones. These chains then reach to
the small intestine where other protein digesting enzymes are present and further digestion
of proteins takes place.
Other protein digesting enzymes called trypsin are secreted by pancreas in pancreatic juice
which reaches the small intestine. Pancreatic juice also contains enzymes like lipase for fat
digestion and amylase for carbohydrate digestion.
At last, protein gets converted into amino acids, carbohydrates get converted into glucose
and fats get converted into fatty acids and glycerol.
Note: The enzyme pepsin responsible for protein digestion in the stomach can be confused
with other digestive enzymes like amylase, trypsin, lipase which are present in the small
intestine.
