Water on the move

By Living systems · myAudience

myAudience original generated teaching illustration. · Original project illustration.

Osmosis is the net movement of water across a selectively permeable membrane. In the simplified case shown here, water moves toward the side with a higher concentration of solute that cannot cross the membrane. Water moves both ways, but the net movement changes the balance. Our schematic is not to scale; living cells also involve pressure and other conditions that a simple picture leaves out.