Movement

across cell
membranes

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• Substances can move into and out of
cells through the cell membrane. The
three main types of movement are
• diffusion,
• osmosis
• and active transport.

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 Concentration gradients
• The idea of concentrations and gradients within
them is important when understanding the
movement of substances across cell membranes.

Concentration
When sucrose is dissolved in water:
• the soluteis sucrose
• water is the solvent

The more particles there are in a certain volume, the

more concentrated those particles are.

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Low solute Concentration

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 High Solute
Concentration

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A solution with a low solute concentration has a high
water concentration, and a high water potential. Pure
water has the highest water potential.
A concentration gradient exists when there is a region
of high concentration leading to a region of low
concentration:
• going from high to low concentration is
going down the concentration gradient
• going from low to high concentration is
going against the concentration gradient

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 Diffusion
• Dissolved or gaseous substances have to pass through
the cell membrane to get into or out of a cell. Diffusion is
one of the processes that allows this to happen.
• Diffusion occurs when particles spread. They move from
a region where they are in high concentration to a
region where they are in low concentration. Diffusion
happens when the particles are free to move. This is true
in gases and for particles dissolved in solutions - but
diffusion does not occur in solids.
• Particles diffuse down a concentration gradient, from an
area of high concentration to an area of low
concentration. This is how the smell of cooking travels
around the house from the kitchen, for example.

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 Diffusion experiment
• Potassium permanganate is placed into a beaker
of water

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Particles diffuse from an area of high concentration to an

area of low concentration

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 The contents of the beaker are now all the same

concentration

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 Examples of diffusion in
living organisms
Products of digestion, dissolved in water, can pass
across the wall of the small intestine by diffusion. Their
concentration is higher in the small intestine than their
concentration in the blood, so there is a
concentration gradient from the intestine to the
blood.
Oxygen and carbon dioxide, dissolved in water, are
exchanged by diffusion in the lungs:
• oxygen moves down a concentration gradient from
the air in the alveoli to the blood
• carbon dioxide moves down a concentration
gradient from the blood to the air in the alveoli

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 The dissolved substances will only continue to diffuse

while there is a concentration gradient.

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 Osmosis
• Osmosis is the diffusion of water molecules, from a
region of higher concentration to a region of lower
concentration, through a partially permeable
membrane. A dilute solution contains a high
concentration of water molecules, while a
concentrated solution contains a low
concentration of water molecules.
• Partially permeable membranes are also
called selectively permeable membranes or semi-
permeable membranes. They let some substances
pass through them, but not others.

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 Example of Osmosis

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• eventually the level on the more concentrated side
of the membrane rises, while the one on the less
concentrated side falls.
• When the concentration is the same on both sides
of the membrane, the movement of water
molecules will be the same in both directions. At this
point, the net exchange of water is zero and there is
no further change in the liquid levels.

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 Osmosis in cells
• he results of osmosis are different in plant
and animal cells.
Plant cells
• Plant cells have a strong cellulose cell wall on the
outside of the cell membrane. This supports the cell
and stops it bursting when it gains water by osmosis.
• A plant cell in a dilute solution (higher water
potential than the cell contents)
• Water enters the cell by osmosis. The cytoplasm
pushes against the cell wall and the cell becomes
turgid.
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• A plant cell in a concentrated solution (lower water
potential than the cell contents)
• Water leaves the cell by osmosis. The cytoplasm
pulls away from the cell wall (plasmolysis) and the
cell becomes flaccid and the plant wilts.

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 Osmosis in Animal Cells
Animal cells do not have a cell wall. They change size
and shape when put into solutions that are at a
different concentration to the cell contents.
For example, red blood cells:
• gain water, swell and burst in a more dilute solution
(this is called haemolysis)
• lose water and shrink in a more concentrated
solution (they become crenated or wrinkled)
These things do not happen inside the
body. Osmoregulationinvolving the kidneys ensures
that the concentration of the blood stays about the
same as the concentration of the cell contents.

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 Active transport
• Active transport is the movement of dissolved
molecules into or out of a cell through the cell
membrane, from a region of lower concentration to
a region of higher concentration. The particles
move against the concentration gradient, using
energy released during respiration.
• Sometimes dissolved molecules are at a higher
concentration inside the cell than outside, but,
because the organism needs these molecules, they
still have to be absorbed. Carrier proteinspick up
specific molecules and take them through the cell
membrane against the concentration gradient.

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 Cell Membrane

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Examples of active transport include:
• uptake of glucose by epithelial cells in the villi of the
small intestine
• uptake of ions from soil water by root hair cells in
plants

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 Active transport vs
diffusion and osmosis

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 Osmosis experiments
Visking tubing is an artificial partially permeable
membrane:
• smaller molecules like water and glucose pass
through its microscopic holes
• larger molecules like starch and sucrose cannot
pass through it
The slideshow shows a typical experiment using Visking
tubing and sucrose solution:

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1. The Visking tubing is partly submerged into water and

the liquid rises

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 2. The Visking tubing is half full of water and the liquid

level falls

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3. The Visking tubing is full of water and there is no change

in the liquid level

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• The sucrose solution is hypertonic to the water – it is
a more concentrated solution. There is a net
movement of water molecules, by osmosis, from
the water outside to the sucrose solution inside the
Visking tubing. This makes the liquid level in the
capillary tube rise.
• A less concentrated solution is hypotonic to a more
concentrated solution, while two solutions at the
same concentration are isotonic.

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• The table summarises the results of the four
combinations of water and 10% sucrose in the
experiments, showing the movement of water and
solute across a concentration gradient.

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 Living cells experiment
Cylinders or discs of fresh potato are often used to
investigate osmosis in living cells. To carry out this type
of experiment, you need to:
• cut equal-sized pieces of potato
• blot with tissue paper and weigh
• put pieces into different concentrations of sucrose
solution for a few hours
• remove, blot with tissue paper and reweigh
The percentage change in mass can be calculated
for each piece of potato:

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