Osmosis and Water Potential Review

These flashcards cover key concepts related to osmosis, tonicity, water potential, and their associated calculations.

What is osmosis?

The movement of water across a semipermeable membrane from an area of lower solute concentration to an area of higher solute concentration.

Tonicity

The ability of an extracellular solution to cause a cell to gain or lose water, depending on the concentration of solutes that cannot pass through the cell membrane.

Isotonic Solution

A solution where the concentration of nonpenetrating solutes outside the cell is equal to that inside the cell, resulting in no net movement of water.

Hypertonic Solution

A solution where the concentration of solutes is higher outside the cell, causing the cell to lose water and resulting in crenation in animal cells and plasmolysis in plant cells.

Hypotonic Solution

A solution where the concentration of solutes is lower outside the cell, causing the cell to gain water, swell, and potentially lyse in animal cells.

Osmoregulation

The process by which cells regulate their solute concentrations and maintain water balance.

Water Potential

A physical property that predicts the direction water will flow, influenced by solute concentration and physical pressure.

Water Potential Formula

Ψ = s + p, where Ψ is water potential, s is solute potential, and p is pressure potential.

Solute Potential Formula

s = -iCRT, where i is the ionization constant, C is molar concentration, R is the pressure constant, and T is temperature in Kelvin.

Pressure Potential

The physical pressure on a solution, which can be positive or negative relative to atmospheric pressure.