STUDY GUIDE 1CH.

5, DIFFUSION AND OSMOSIS

The PLASMA MEMBRANE of the cell acts as a barrier between external and
internal environments, protecting and separating the inside of the cell from the
environment outside.

ASSIMILATION, which occurs only in living things, is the ability of the cell to
integrate nonliving materials (such as nutrients and other inorganic molecules) into
its cytoplasm. However, to do this, these molecules must be able to get into the
cell.

The cell membrane is SELECTIVELY PERMEABLE, meaning that it lets some things
in but not others. This depends on many factors, including the size of the molecule,
the existence (or not) of transport proteins in the cell membrane for accepting that
type of molecule, and the concentration of the molecule inside the cell vs. outside.

CONCENTRATION = the number of molecules of a given substance in a known

volume of solution.

A SOLUTION consists of a SOLUTE (a substance, often a solid) dissolved in a

SOLVENT (a liquid, usually water). Example: Salt water is a solution consisting of
NaCl (the solute) dissolved in water (the solvent).

DIFFUSION = the net movement of SOLUTE and/or SOLVENT molecules from an

area of HIGH CONCENTRATION to an area of LOW CONCENTRATION (of those
particular molecules), continuing until equilibrium occurs. At EQUILIBRIUM, the
solute and solvent are equally distributed.

OSMOSIS is a special case of diffusion, in which ONLY THE SOLVENT (water)

molecules move.

OSMOSIS is defined as the net movement of water from a HYPOTONIC

region to a HYPERTONIC region, through a SEMIPERMEABLE MEMBRANE, to
equilibrium. Since the cell membrane is semipermeable, osmosis affects living
cells.
The terms HYPOTONIC, HYPERTONIC, and ISOTONIC are all relative: it
depends whether you are talking about the inside or outside environment.

ISOTONIC means that the SOLUTE concentration is THE SAME both inside and
outside the cell (or other semipermeable membrane).

HYPOTONIC means having a LOWER SOLUTE concentration.

HYPERTONIC means having a HIGHER SOLUTE concentration.

EXAMPLE: When an Elodea leaf cell is placed in spring water, both the cell and its
environment are ISOTONIC to one another, meaning that the solute concentration
is THE SAME. Nothing happens.

When the same cell is placed in distilled water (dH 20), the ENVIRONMENT is
HYPOtonic to the cell, but the CELL is HYPERtonic to its environment, because
the solute concentration is HIGHER in the cell than in the distilled water. The
central vacuole absorbs water and expands.

When the cell is placed in 30% sucrose solution, the CELL is now HYPOtonic to its
environment, because the SOLUTE concentration is LOWER in the cell than in the
environment outside. The sucrose solution is HYPERtonic with respect to the cell.
The cell membrane shrivels away from the cell wall as water exits.

In our experiment, the dialysis bags in ISOTONIC solutions stayed the same. The
bags in HYPERTONIC solutions lost weight as water flowed out, and the bags in
HYPOTONIC solutions gained weight as water flowed in.

Remember: WATER ALWAYS WANTS TO DILUTE A SOLUTE!

(So, wherever the solute concentration is HIGHER, the water will always flow in that
direction to dilute it).

THINK ABOUT IT: you have a dialysis bag containing 15% sucrose solution, placed
in a beaker containing 30% sucrose solution. Which way will the water flow?

(It will flow out of the bag, because the water wants to go where the concentration
of solute is higher (30% compared to only 15% inside the bag).