A water solution that contains nutrients, wastes, gases, salts and other substances surrounds cells. This is the external environment of a cell. The cell’s outer surface of the plasma membrane is in contact with this external environment, while the inner surface is in contact with the cytoplasm. Thus, the plasma membrane controls what enters and leaves the cell.
The membrane permits the passage of some materials, but not all. The cell membrane is said to be selectively permeable. Small molecules, for example, may pass through the membrane. If no energy is required for substances to pass through the membrane, the process is called passive transport. We will discuss two examples of passive transport in this tutorial: diffusion and osmosis.
Diffusion
Although you may not know what diffusion is, you have experienced the process. Can you remember walking into the front door of your home and smelling a pleasant aroma coming from the kitchen? It was diffusion of molecules from the kitchen to the front door of the house that allowed you to detect the odors.
Diffusion is defined as the net movement of molecules from an area of greater concentration to an area of lesser concentration.
The molecules in a gas, a liquid or a solid are in constant motion due to their kinetic energy. Molecules are in constant movement and collide with each other. These collisions cause the molecules to move in random directions. Over time, however, more molecules will be propelled into the less concentrated area. Thus, the net movement of molecules is always from more tightly packed areas to less tightly packed areas. Many things can diffuse. Odors diffuse through the air, salt diffuses through water and nutrients diffuse from the blood to the body tissues.
This spread of particles through random motion from an area of high concentration to an area of lower concentration is known as diffusion. This unequal distribution of molecules is called a concentration gradient. Once the molecules become uniformly distributed, dynamic equilibrium exists. The equilibrium is said to be dynamic because molecules continue to move, but despite this change, there is no net change in concentration over time. Both living and nonliving systems experience the process of diffusion. In living systems, diffusion is responsible for the movement of a large number of substances, such as gases and small uncharged molecules, into and out of cells.
Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\). (CC BY-NC-SA)
Osmosis
Osmosis is a specific type of diffusion; it is the passage of water from a region of high water concentration through a semi-permeable membrane to a region of low water concentration.
Semi-permeable membranes are very thin layers of material which allow some things to pass through them, but prevent other things from passing through. Cell membranes are an example of semi-permeable membranes. Cell membranes allow small molecules such as oxygen, water carbon dioxide and glucose to pass through, but do not allow larger molecules like sucrose, proteins and starch to enter the cell directly.
Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\). (CC BY-NC-SA)
Example: If there was a semi-permeable membrane with more water molecules on one side as there were on the other, water molecules would flow from the side with a high concentration of water to the side with the lower concentration of water. This would continue until the concentration of water on both sides of the membrane were equal (dynamic equilibrium is established).
Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\). (CC BY-NC-SA)
Osmotic Pressure
Adding sugars to water will result in a decrease in the water concentration because the sugar molecules displace the water molecules.
Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\). osmotic pressure (CC BY-NC-SA; LadyOfHats)
If the two containers are connected, but separated by a semi-permeable membrane, water molecules would flow from the area of high water concentration (the solution that does not contain any sugar) to the area of lower water concentration (the solution that contains sugar).
Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\). osmotic pressure (CC BY-NC-SA; LadyOfHats)
This movement of water would continue until the water concentration on both sides of the membrane is equal, and will result in a change in volume of the two sides. The side that contains sugar will end up with a larger volume.
Figure \(\PageIndex{6}\). osmotic pressure (CC BY-NC-SA; LadyOfHats)
Water solutions are very important in biology. When water is mixed with other molecules this mixture is called a solution. Water is the solvent and the dissolved substance is the solute. A solution is characterized by the solute. For example, water and sugar would be characterized as a sugar solution.
The classic example used to demonstrate osmosis and osmotic pressure is to immerse red blood cells into sugar solutions of various concentrations. There are three possible relationships that cells can encounter when placed into a sugar solution.
1. The concentration of solute in the solution can be equal to the concentration of solute in cells. In this situation the cell is in an isotonic solution (iso = equal or the same as normal). A red blood cell will retain its normal shape in this environment as the amount of water entering the cell is the same as the amount leaving the cell.
2. The concentration of solute in the solution can be greater than the concentration of solute in the cells. This cell is described as being in a hypertonic solution (hyper = greater than normal). In this situation, a red blood will appear to shrink as the water flows out of the cell and into the surrounding environment.
3. The concentration of solute in the solution can be less than the concentration of solute in the cells. This cell is in a hypotonic solution (hypo = less than normal). A red blood cell in this environment will become visibly swollen and potentially rupture as water rushes into the cell.
Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\). (CC BY-NC-SA)
Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\). (CC BY-NC-SA)
Learning Objectives
Diffusion is a passive process of transport. A single substance tends to move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration until the concentration is equal across a space. You are familiar with diffusion of substances through the air. For example, think about someone opening a bottle of ammonia in a room filled with people. The ammonia gas is at its highest concentration in the bottle; its lowest concentration is at the edges of the room. The ammonia vapor will diffuse, or spread away, from the bottle; gradually, more and more people will smell the ammonia as it spreads. Materials move within the cell ‘s cytosol by diffusion, and certain materials move through the plasma membrane by diffusion. Diffusion expends no energy. On the contrary, concentration gradients are a form of potential energy, dissipated as the gradient is eliminated.
Each separate substance in a medium, such as the extracellular fluid, has its own concentration gradient independent of the concentration gradients of other materials. In addition, each substance will diffuse according to that gradient. Within a system, there will be different rates of diffusion of the different substances in the medium.
Molecules move constantly in a random manner at a rate that depends on their mass, their environment, and the amount of thermal energy they possess, which in turn is a function of temperature. This movement accounts for the diffusion of molecules through whatever medium in which they are localized. A substance will tend to move into any space available to it until it is evenly distributed throughout it. After a substance has diffused completely through a space removing its concentration gradient, molecules will still move around in the space, but there will be no net movement of the number of molecules from one area to another. This lack of a concentration gradient in which there is no net movement of a substance is known as dynamic equilibrium. While diffusion will go forward in the presence of a concentration gradient of a substance, several factors affect the rate of diffusion:
- Extent of the concentration gradient: The greater the difference in concentration, the more rapid the diffusion. The closer the distribution of the material gets to equilibrium, the slower the rate of diffusion becomes.
- Mass of the molecules diffusing: Heavier molecules move more slowly; therefore, they diffuse more slowly. The reverse is true for lighter molecules.
- Temperature: Higher temperatures increase the energy and therefore the movement of the molecules, increasing the rate of diffusion. Lower temperatures decrease the energy of the molecules, thus decreasing the rate of diffusion.
- Solvent density: As the density of a solvent increases, the rate of diffusion decreases. The molecules slow down because they have a more difficult time getting through the denser medium. If the medium is less dense, diffusion increases. Because cells primarily use diffusion to move materials within the cytoplasm, any increase in the cytoplasm’s density will inhibit the movement of the materials. An example of this is a person experiencing dehydration. As the body’s cells lose water, the rate of diffusion decreases in the cytoplasm, and the cells’ functions deteriorate. Neurons tend to be very sensitive to this effect. Dehydration frequently leads to unconsciousness and possibly coma because of the decrease in diffusion rate within the cells.
- Solubility: As discussed earlier, nonpolar or lipid-soluble materials pass through plasma membranes more easily than polar materials, allowing a faster rate of diffusion.
- Surface area and thickness of the plasma membrane: Increased surface area increases the rate of diffusion, whereas a thicker membrane reduces it.
- Distance travelled: The greater the distance that a substance must travel, the slower the rate of diffusion. This places an upper limitation on cell size. A large, spherical cell will die because nutrients or waste cannot reach or leave the center of the cell. Therefore, cells must either be small in size, as in the case of many prokaryotes, or be flattened, as with many single-celled eukaryotes.
A variation of diffusion is the process of filtration. In filtration, material moves according to its concentration gradient through a membrane; sometimes the rate of diffusion is enhanced by pressure, causing the substances to filter more rapidly. This occurs in the kidney where blood pressure forces large amounts of water and accompanying dissolved substances, or solutes, out of the blood and into the renal tubules. The rate of diffusion in this instance is almost totally dependent on pressure. One of the effects of high blood pressure is the appearance of protein in the urine, which is “squeezed through” by the abnormally high pressure.
Key Points
- Substances diffuse according to their concentration gradient; within a system, different substances in the medium will each diffuse at different rates according to their individual gradients.
- After a substance has diffused completely through a space, removing its concentration gradient, molecules will still move around in the space, but there will be no net movement of the number of molecules from one area to another, a state known as dynamic equilibrium.
- Several factors affect the rate of diffusion of a solute including the mass of the solute, the temperature of the environment, the solvent density, and the distance traveled.
Key Terms
- diffusion: The passive movement of a solute across a permeable membrane
- concentration gradient: A concentration gradient is present when a membrane separates two different concentrations of molecules.