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osmosis
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osmosis

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Home Science Physics Matter & Energy


OSMOSIS

chemical process
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Alternate titles: osmose
By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Last Updated: Sep 30, 2022 Edit
History
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osmosis
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Key People: Hugo von Mohl Henri Dutrochet Wilhelm Pfeffer Isidor Traube ...(Show
more) Related Topics: diffusion reverse osmosis solvent semipermeable membrane
osmotic pressure ...(Show more)
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osmosis, the spontaneous passage or diffusion of water or other solvents through
a semipermeable membrane (one that blocks the passage of dissolved
substances—i.e., solutes). The process, important in biology, was first
thoroughly studied in 1877 by a German plant physiologist, Wilhelm Pfeffer.
Earlier workers had made less accurate studies of leaky membranes (e.g., animal
bladders) and the passage through them in opposite directions of water and
escaping substances. The general term osmose (now osmosis) was introduced in
1854 by a British chemist, Thomas Graham.


Learn how plants use osmosis, facilitated diffusion, and active transport to
ingest water and mineral salts
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If a solution is separated from the pure solvent by a membrane that is permeable
to the solvent but not the solute, the solution will tend to become more dilute
by absorbing solvent through the membrane. This process can be stopped by
increasing the pressure on the solution by a specific amount, called the osmotic
pressure. The Dutch-born chemist Jacobus Henricus van ’t Hoff showed in 1886
that if the solute is so dilute that its partial vapour pressure above the
solution obeys Henry’s law (i.e., is proportional to its concentration in the
solution), then osmotic pressure varies with concentration and temperature
approximately as it would if the solute were a gas occupying the same volume.
This relation led to equations for determining molecular weights of solutes in
dilute solutions through effects on the freezing point, boiling point, or vapour
pressure of the solvent.

Read More on This Topic
chemical analysis: Osmosis
This is a separation technique in which a semipermeable membrane is placed
between two solutions containing the same solvent. The membrane...
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised
and updated by Erik Gregersen.


Henri Dutrochet
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Henri Dutrochet

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   French physician and pathologist
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HENRI DUTROCHET

French physiologist
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Alternate titles: René-Joachim-Henri Dutrochet
By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Edit History
Table of Contents
Born: November 14, 1776 France ...(Show more) Died: February 4, 1847 (aged 70)
Paris France ...(Show more) Subjects Of Study: chlorophyll osmosis ...(Show
more)
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Henri Dutrochet, in full René-joachim-henri Dutrochet, (born Nov. 14, 1776,
Néon, France—died Feb. 4, 1847, Paris), French physiologist who discovered and
named the phenomenon of osmosis (the passage of solvent through a semipermeable
membrane) and was the first to recognize the importance of green pigment in the
use of carbon dioxide by plant cells.

Dutrochet studied medicine in Paris (M.D., 1806) and then served as a military
medical officer in Spain for several years before giving up the practice of
medicine to devote his career to scientific research. When Dutrochet noticed the
similarity of physical and chemical processes in plants and animals, he directed
his studies toward plant and animal physiology. He was the first to investigate
thoroughly the mechanisms of respiration, light sensitivity, and geotropism
(orientation in response to gravitation) in plants; and his classical
experiments on osmosis included recognition of its role in internal plant
transport and diffusion through semipermeable membranes. He constructed an
osmometer (a device to measure osmotic pressure), developed a technique to
detect heat production in muscle tissue and in individual plants, showed that
mushrooms are the reproductive bodies of the mycelium (mass of fungal
filaments), and was one of the first to recognize the importance of individual
cells in the functioning of an organism.


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Dutrochet’s most valuable contributions to science were his emphasis on the
similarity of basic processes in all living organisms and his belief that all
such processes can be explained in terms of physical and chemical forces.



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