How does osmosis differ from diffusion and dialysis How does

Solution

Ans. #1. Osmosis: Osmosis is the movement of water molecules across the plasma membrane along its gradient. The term osmosis is restricted for “water molecules”.

# The term diffusion can be applied to any molecule that spontaneously moves along its gradient to establish equilibrium.

# During dialysis, solutes move along their concertation gradient along a dialysis membrane.

2. Simple diffusion. Diffusion (simple diffusion) is the net movement of a molecule from its higher to lower concentration to establish a dynamic concentration equilibrium (i.e. the process continues till the molecules are equally distributed through the given space). The presence of plasma membrane as boundary is not necessary.

# All volatile molecules irrespective of their mass and size exhibit diffusion.

# Gases like CO₂, and O₂ diffuse across the membrane.

#3. Dialysis: During dialysis (say, of blood), solid particles (urea, glucose, ions, etc.) also move their higher to lower concertation through a dialysis membrane.