Movement of Molecules and Membrane Transport Brownian movement Random motion generated by thermal molecular collisions in the liquid

environment of particles A suspended particle is constantly and randomly bombarded from all sides by molecules of the liquid. If the particles are very small, the hits it takes from one side will be stronger than the bumps from other sides causing it to jump (make up Brownian movement). Motion becomes more rapid and the particles move farther when temperature of water was raised, when viscosity of fluid was lowered, or when the size of particles was reduced Atoms or molecules that make up a liquid or gas are in constant thermal motion and their velocity distribution is determined by the temperature of the system. This causes the particles to strike the suspended particles If the particles are too big, the random bumps by the molecules will not be noticed at all Lower viscosity = higher motion Diffusion One result of thermal movement which is the movement of molecules of any substance so that they spread out evenly (equilibrium) into the available space. Movement of molecules from a region of high concentration to a region of low concentration by means of random molecular motion (Brownian movement). Possible due to presence of empty spaces In the crystal, the potassium permanganate molecules are packed tightly together and are very concentrated while to begin with, the surrounding water contained no permanganate molecules at all. The permanganate molecules diffused throughout the water until they were evenly distributed. The molecules actually moved randomly in all directions but there is a net movement away from the crystal than towards it. Diffusion gradient is the difference in the concentration. The region along which the density of chemical substance decreases. High concentration low concentration Osmosis The diffusion of water across a selectively permeable membrane. Water will move towards the high concentration of solute (thus to the lower concentration of water) To reverse the process of osmosis in the experiment, one may change the content of the intestinal lining bag to a solution with higher solute concentration than 10% glucose it was immersed into. In this way water will move from its higher concentration in the 10% glucose solution to its lower concentration in the intestinal lining bag with the higher solute concentration. Osmosis in Plant cells The 4% calcium chloride solution has a lower concentration of free water molecules compared to that of the cytoplasm of the plant cell. This causes the diffusion of the water molecules out of the cell towards the region with lower water concentration. Upon losing much of its water content, the cell undergoes plasmolysis, a phenomenon wherein the plasma membrane shrinks away from the cell wall (Campbell, 2005). The structure of the rigid cell wall remains intact while the plasma membrane is deformed In order to restore the plant cell into its turgid state, the cell must be placed in a hypotonic environment. In this set-up, the solution outside the cell contains less solute molecules, making the concentration of free water molecules higher compared to that of the cell. The difference in concentrations would cause the water molecules to diffuse into the cell faster than the rate of water diffusion out of the cell (Campbell, 2005). In order to achieve a hypotonic environment, the cell could be placed in distilled deionized water. Wilted vegetables could be restored to their fresh state by soaking them in plain water. This creates a concentration gradient that would drive the water molecules into the plant cell at a faster rate compared to the rate of water diffusion out of the cell. On the other hand, the addition of salt water would cause the vegetables to be more wilted and dry since the water from the plant cells would diffuse out of the cells towards the region of low water content which is the salt water.

Osmosis in animal cells Red blood cells are isotonic in solutions containing 0.9% NaCl, therefore in pure distilled water, the cells lysed and in 4% NaCl the cells shrunk and shriveled while they stayed normal in 1x PBS solution. The 1x PBS solution which contained about 0.8% NaCl provided an isotonic and buffer solution for the cells. The distilled water was a hypotonic solution for red blood cells. There was less water concentration within the cells thats why extracellular water diffused inward and caused them to lyse. The 4%NaCl solution was a very hypertonic solution for the erythrocytes and caused water from the inside of the cell to diffuse outward toward the solution that contained a lower water concentration. Paramecium lives in pond water which is hypotonic to the cell. It has a plasma membrane (three layers of pellicle) which is less permeable to water than the membranes of most other cells. However this only slows down the uptake of water which eventually enters the cell. The paramecium cell does not burst because of the presence of a contractile vacuole. The contractile vacuole pumps water out of the cell when full. Amoebae also have a contractile vacuole to adapt to hypotonic environments. Active transport uses energy to move solutes against their concentration gradients across the plasma membrane. Less concentrated more concentrated. The transport proteins involved are carrier proteins. ATP transfers its terminal phosphate group to the transport protein which induces the protein to change its shape in a manner that translocates a solute bound to the protein across the membrane. (i.e. sodium-potassion pump) Effect of Temperature and Molecular Size on Hemolysis Isotonic vs. Isosmotic Isotonic solutions contain only non-penetrating solutes and have the same solute concentration as the cells they surround. There is no net water movement across the plasma membrane and the osmotic pressures (tendency to take on water by osmosis) are equal. They are neither absorbed nor do they absorb anything from the cell. There is water flow but of the same rate in both directions (inward and outward). Isosmotic solutions are solutions with the same osmolarity which is the number of solutes in a given volume. It contains both penetrating and non-penetrating solutes. Thus even if they have equal osmotic pressure penetrating solutes can still enter the cell and change its osmotic pressure. Therefore for an isosmotic solution to be isotonic, the membrane must be equally permeable or impermeable to all solutes. The critical concentrations of salt, sucrose, and calcium chloride for hemolysis are 0.07 M NaCl, 0.15 M CaCl2, and 0.056 M sucrose. The membrane is non-permeable to sucrose and NaCl while permeable to CaCl2 Order of increasing molecular size:

Ethanol (46) < Propanol (58) < urea (60) < ethylene glycol (62) < glycerol (92) Increasing molecular size and polarity decreases membrane permeability. Diffusion of permeable solutes pulls water into the cell thats why the smaller the molecule the faster it diffuses and the faster the cell hemolyzes. Polarity also affects membrane solubility. The more non-polar and therefore lipid soluble the solute is, the easier for it to cross the lipid bilayer. Higher temp higher permeability. At higher temperatures, the phospholipid bilayer are more fluid and allow more movement and at cold temperatures the tails of the fattyacids are more rigid and less fluid. Therefore, higher temperature permits easier diffusion of molecules because of better fluidity.