Monday, November 4, 2013

If two solutions are separated by a selectively permeable membrane, will water flow from the hypo-osmotic solution into the hyper-osmotic, or vice...

A solution consists of a solute (such as salt) dissolved
in water.



The concentration of solute molecules
in the water determines the osmotic pressure or osmolality of the solution.  Odmotic
pressure is a colligative property, meaning  it is a property that depends solely on
molecular concentration, not the type of
molecule.



When a selectively permeable membrane
separates solutions of differing concentration, water will move across the membrane from
the solution with lower osmolality into that with the higher osmotic pressure, until the
concentrations equalize.



Solutions with high
concentration of molecules are termed hyper-osmotic, and those with low concentration,
hypo-osmotic.  So the answer to your question is that water will move from the
hypo-osmotic solution into the hyper-osmotic solution.

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