Concept
Version 8
Created by Boundless
The Plasma Membrane and the Cytoplasm
Osmosis
Osmosis is the diffusion of water through a semipermeable membrane down its concentration gradient. If a membrane is permeable to water, though not to a solute, water will equalize its own concentration by diffusing to the side of lower water concentration (and thus the side of higher solute concentration). In the beaker on the left, the solution on the right side of the membrane is hypertonic.
Source
Boundless vets and curates high-quality, openly licensed content from around the Internet. This particular resource used the following sources:
"OpenStax College, The Cell Membrane. October 23, 2013."
http://cnx.org/content/m46021/latest/
OpenStax CNX
CC BY 3.0.