OSMOSIS Definition Osmosis is the passage of water from a region of high water concentration through a semi-permeable membrane to a region

of low water concentration. The definition contains three important statements: Osmosis is the passage of water from a region of high water concentration through a semi-permeable membrane to a region of low water concentration. Osmosis is the passage of water from a region of high water concentration through a semi-permeable membrane to a region of low water concentration. Osmosis is the passage of water from a region of high water concentration through a semi-permeable membrane to a region of low water concentration. It does not matter too much which order you put these statements in. Nor does it matter if you write the definition as one sentence or three sentences. All that matters in your exam is that you make all three points when you explain what osmosis is. Now put the Osmosis and Homeostasis Revision Windows on your desktop new Explanation First the definition of osmosis: Semi-permeable membranes are very thin layers of material (cell membranes are semi-permeable) which allow some things to pass through them but prevent other things from passing through. Cell membranes will allow small molecules like Oxygen, water, Carbon Dioxide, Ammonia, Glucose, amino-acids, etc. to pass through. Cell membranes will not allow larger molecules like Sucrose, Starch, protein, etc. to pass through. A region of high concentration of water is either a very dilute solution of something like sucrose or pure water. In each case there is a lot of water: there is a high concentration of water. Some teachers use the definition which starts "Osmosis is the passage of water from a dilute solution to a......" this means exactly the same as the definition I have given. A region of low concentration of water is a concentrated solution of something like sucrose. In this case there is much less water. So you could use the definition "Osmosis is the passage of water from a dilute solution through a semipermeable membrane to a more concentrated solution.

DIFFUSION Diffusion is the natural tendency of molecules to flow from higher concentrations to lower concentrations. When the barrier between two substances is removed, the molecules will diffuse throughout the entire container. While the number of molecules in the container is the same as it was before the barrier was removed, the substances are now at lower concentrations. The rate of diffusion depends on the weight of the moleculesheavy molecules diffuse more slowly than light molecules. or Diffusion refers to the process by which molecules intermingle as a result of their kinetic energy of random motion. Consider two containers of gas A and B separated by a partition. The molecules of both gases are in constant motion and make numerous collisions with the partition. If the partition is removed as in the lower illustration, the gases will mix because of the random velocities of their molecules. In time a uniform mixture of A and B molecules will be produced in the container. The tendency toward diffusion is very strong even at room temperature because of the high molecular velocities associated with the thermal energy of the particles. ENDOCYTOSIS Endocytosis is a process whereby cells absorb material (molecules such as proteins) from the outside by engulfing it with their cell membrane. It is used by all cells of the body because most substances important to them are polar and consist of big molecules, and thus cannot pass through the hydrophobic plasma membrane. The function of endocytosis is the opposite of exocytosis. EXOCYTOSIS The process where substances are ejected from a cell. Exocytosis is needed by cells for secretion of proteins like enzymes, peptide hormones and antibodies from cells, turnover of plasma membrane, release of neurotransmitter from presynaptic neurons, placement of integral membrane proteins, acrosome reaction during fertilization, antigen presentation during the immune response and recycling of plasma membrane bound receptors HOMEOSTASIS Homeostasis and Negative Feedback Homeostasis is one of the fundamental characteristics of living things. It refers to the maintenance of the internal environment within tolerable limits. All sorts of factors affect the suitability of our body fluids to sustain life; these include properties like temperature, salinity, acidity, and the concentrations of nutrients and wastes. Because these properties affect the chemical reactions that keep us alive, we have built-in physiological mechanisms to maintain them at desirable levels. When a change occurs in the body, there are two general ways that the body can respond. In negative feedback, the body responds in such a way as to reverse the direction of change. Because this tends to

keep things constant, it allows us to maintain homeostasis. or In medicine and biology, this term is applied to the inherent tendency in an organism toward maintenance of physiological and psychological stability The process of keeping the internal environment of the body stable by making adjustments to changes in the external environment Active transport is the movement of a substance against its concentration gradient (from low to high concentration). In all cells, this is usually concerned with accumulating high concentrations of molecules that the cell needs, such as ions, glucose, and amino acids. If the process uses chemical energy, such as from adenosine triphosphate (ATP), it is termed primary active transport. Secondary active transport involves the use of an electrochemical gradient. Active transport uses energy, unlike passive transport, which does not use any type of energy. Active transport is a good example of a process for which cells require energy. Examples of active transport include the uptake of glucose in the intestines in humans and the uptake of mineral ions into root hair cells of plants. Animal Cell Plant Cell Show All Cilia: Present It is very rare hide Shape: Round (irregular shape) Rectangular (fixed shape) hide Chloroplast: Animal cells don't have chloroplasts Plant cells have chloroplasts because they make their own food hide Vacuole: One or more small vacuoles (much smaller than plant cells). One, large central vacuole taking up 90% of cell volume. hide Centrioles: Present in all animal cells Only present in lower plant forms. hide Plastids: Absent Present hide Cell wall: Absent Present hide Plasma Membrane: only cell membrane cell wall and a cell membrane hide Lysosomes: Lysosomes occur in cytoplasm. Lysosomes usually not evident. hide Passive transport means moving biochemicals and other atomic or molecular substances across membranes. Unlike active transport, this process does not involve chemical energy, because, unlike in an active transport, the transport across membrane is always coupled with the growth of entropy of the system. So passive transport is dependent on the permeability of the cell membrane, which, in turn, is dependent on the organization and characteristics of the membrane lipids and proteins. The four main kinds of passive transport are diffusion, facilitated diffusion, filtration and osmosis.