The Functions of Osmosis

The Functions of Osmosis

Osmosis is the passive transport of water through a selectively

permeable membrane, a membrane that allows certain needed particles to

pass through it more easily than others. Pores in this type of

membrane are large enough for water to pass effortlessly through it.

The flow of water during osmosis depends on the concentration of a

solute either within a cell membrane or surrounding the membrane.

Water naturally flows from a hypertonic solution, an area of high

concentration of solute, to a hypotonic district, a solution

containing a lower concentration of solute. If a cell that is

hypotonic is placed into a solution that is hypertonic water will

begin to flow into the cell through osmosis. Once the ratio of water

to solute is equal on both sides of the membrane, an isotonic solution

has been created. In this type of situation there is no net gain or

loss of water, water is naturally moving in and out of the cell

without changing the continents on either side of the membrane. This

easy flow of water allows a cell to obtain equilibrium within the

solution without the use of energy. This type of transportation of a

substance is helps to maintain life in plant cells. A plant cell’s

objective is to constantly be surrounded by a hypertonic solution. In

this circumstance water will flow into the cell causing it to swell

and become turgid or very firm. This gives a plant the appearances of

being healthy and sturdy. Once there is a lack of water outside the

cell membrane, water will flow out of the cell causing the cell to

shrink and give the plant the appearance of being limp, which can

evolve in to t...

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...ar substance. There are three

different types of endocytosis: phagocytosis, for making food

vacuoles, pinocytosis, for obtaining water for the cell, and

receptor-mediated, for gathering ligands, molecules that bind to

receptors on the cell membrane. Exocytosis and endocytosis are

valuable to a cell because it allows the cell to obtain the larger

molecules that are not capable of passing through the cell membrane.

Without this transportation, animal cells could not excrete there

waste, they could not gather necessary molecules, or they could not

emit substances needed in other regions of the body. Such as a

hormone cells excreting insulin so it can travel in the blood and help

to digest sugar molecules. Without valuable transportation mechanisms

cells would not receive/excrete the needed substances to sustain life.