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osmosis The passage of a solvent through a semipermeable membrane separating two solutions of different concentrations. A semipermeable membrane is one through which the molecules of a solvent can pass but the molecules of most solutes cannot. There is a thermodynamic tendency for solutions separated by such a membrane to become equal in concentration, the water (or other solvent) flowing from the weaker to the stronger solution. Osmosis will stop when the two solutions reach equal concentration, and can also be stopped by applying a pressure to the liquid on the stronger-solution side of the membrane. The pressure required to stop the flow from a pure solvent into a solution is a characteristic of the solution, and is called the osmotic pressure. Osmotic pressure depends only on the concentration of particles in the solution, not on their nature [ɒz'məʊsɪs, ɑːz'moʊsəs] n | |
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