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Biology vocabulary · Cells and Levels of Organization

Osmosis

Meaning in biology, with examples

/ɑːzˈmoʊsɪs/nounCommon term

In biology, osmosis means: The movement of water across a selectively permeable membrane from a dilute solution into a more concentrated one, until the concentrations become more equal.

In Turkish: osmoz

How it is used

A special case of diffusion that involves water only. Solutions are described as hypotonic, isotonic or hypertonic. In hypotonic solutions animal cells may burst while plant cells become turgid; in hypertonic solutions plant cells undergo plasmolysis.

Example sentences

  1. Red blood cells placed in pure water swell and burst because of osmosis.

  2. The potato strips in salt water lost mass by osmosis.

Common collocations

  • water moves by osmosis
  • osmotic pressure
  • hypertonic solution
  • hypotonic solution
  • diffusionThe net movement of particles from an area where they are more concentrated to an area where they are less concentrated, without the cell using energy.
  • cell membraneThe thin, flexible layer that surrounds every cell and controls what enters and leaves it. It is built mainly from a double layer of phospholipids with proteins set into it.
  • cell wallA strong, rigid layer outside the cell membrane that supports and protects the cell. Plants, fungi and most bacteria have cell walls, but animal cells do not.
  • homeostasisThe ability of an organism or cell to keep its internal conditions, such as temperature, water balance and blood sugar, stable while the outside world changes.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Cells and Levels of Organization

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