Osmosis – Introduction
In our second exercise this unit, we will to take a closer look at osmosis; the movement of water across a membrane. The direction water moves depends on the relative concentration of solute molecules on either side of the membrane (in this case, these solutes are not able to cross the membrane). Furthermore, the presence or absence of cell walls (e.g., in plant cells) influences how cells respond to osmotic fluctuations in their environment. This exercise will examine the forces that determine whether water moves into or out of a cell.
We will be using the following website in this exercise. Be sure you are able to access and use this website before starting.
The Biology Place. No Date. Osmosis: Movement of Water across Membranes
http://www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/biocoach/biomembrane1/osmosis.html (Links to an external site.)
Open the Unit 3 Experiment Answer Sheet and complete the questions for this exercise.