By: Kanokpon Nagavajara (PLOY)

Introduction

Cell membrane has a very special property, which is its selectively permeable
property. Because of this important property, it is also called semi-permeable membrane too.
This property of cell membrane make it possible for the body to maintain homeostasis
because of it is selective about what could be passed and what cannot through the
phospholipid bilayer. Molecules that are small enough to pass through the small spaces
between the hydrophilic heads and hydrophobic tails and do not have too much charge to
disturb the hydrophobic tails would be able to pass through it directly (Cooper, 2000). This is
only one of the ways molecules could pass through phospholipid bilayer, some molecules
might need transport proteins to help it pass to the other side (Lodish et al., 2000).
The way that the molecules could pass through the semi-permeable membrane is
classified into two ways: active transport and passive transport. The major difference of those
two ways is how active transport requires energy, while passive transport does not. Passive
transport includes facilitated diffusion, simple diffusion, and osmosis. For passive transport,
molecules would move down the concentration gradient, which simply means moving from
the side of membrane that has higher concentration to the side that has lower concentration.
This is why passive transport do not require energy, it is going with the flow. Simple diffusion
do not require any energy or any transport protein. The molecules is required to be small
enough to fit into the tight spaces and do not have too much charge that disturb the
hydrophobic tails. Some molecules that cannot pass the simple diffusion would pass through
the membrane using facilitated diffusion, still without using any energy. Facilicated diffusion
is aid by membrane transport proteins, specifically, glycoprotein (Khan Academy, n.d.).
Osmosis is a special kind of diffusion that deals with water, it is how water could
transport from one place to another. Like the other two diffusions, osmosis also move down
the concentration gradient by moving from areas that have high concentration gradient of
water and low concentration gradient of solute to the side that low concentration gradient of
water and high concentration gradient of solute in the solution. The three solutions of osmosis
are hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic. Because some molecules cannot pass through the
semi-permeable membrane, it is stuck on one of the sides of the membrane, which makes the
unbalance solute in the solution. Water would try to move using osmosis way from low solute
to high solute side. The solution that has higher solute concentration is called hypertonic
solution. The other side that have lower solute concentration is called hypotonic solution.
Water would move from hypotonic solution to hypertonic solution to balance the
concentration of the solute on both sides or until reach the equilibrium. And if the solute in
both the cell and in the solution is equal, it is called isotonic solution. Cell or any other
molecules that have semi-permeable membrane would react differently if they are put into
these three different solutions. If they are put in a hypertonic solution, which means the
solution has higher concentration of solute than inside the molecules or cell, the water would
try to balance the concentration out by moving into the side that have higher solute and lower
water concentration, thus the cell would shrink. If the cell is put into a hypotonic solution, the
higher concentration gradient would be in the cell, thus the water would move in and the cell
would swell up. If the cell in the isotonic solution, the concentration gradient is equal on both
sides, this cell would maintain its size, it is stable. In all solutions, the water is always moving
even though it might already reach equilibrium or might not. But the overall, for cell in
hypertonic solution, the water would move both ways, but it would mostly move out of the
cell. For cell in hypotonic solution, the water would mostly move into the cell. In isotonic
solution, even though it has already reached equilibrium, but the water is always moving,
thus the net movement of water is zero. Some real life example of osmosis would be roots
absorbing water, large intestines absorbing water, slugs moisture taken by putting salt on
them, and etc. (Amoeba Sisters, 2014).
For this experiment, we try to see how osmosis works in action. We used potatoes and
jellos to represent the cell or other molecules that have semi-permeable membrane. We used
distilled water to represent hypotonic solution and used salt water to represent hypertonic
solution. We put both jellos and potatoes into both solutions to compare and contrast the
differences of how osmosis would occur for each of them.

References

Cooper, G. M. (2000) The Cell: A Molecular Approach. 2nd edition. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9928/

Lodish H, Berk A, Zipursky SL, et al. (2000) Molecular Cell Biology. 4th edition. Retrieved
from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21592/

Khan Academy. (n.d.). Passive transport and active transport across a cell membrane
article. Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/cells/transport-across-a-
cell-membrane/a/passive-transport-and-active-transport-across-a-cell-membrane-article

[Amoeba Sisters]. (2014, May 4). Osmosis: A Solute and Solvent Love Story. [Video File].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaZ8MtF3C6M