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In animal cells excessive osmotic pressure can result in cytolysis due to the absence of a cell wall. Osmotic pressure is the basis of filtering ("reverse osmosis"), a process commonly used in water purification. The water to be purified is placed in a chamber and put under an amount of pressure greater than the osmotic pressure exerted by the ...
When the solutes around a cell become more or less concentrated, osmotic pressure causes water to flow into or out of the cell to equilibrate. [8] This osmotic stress inhibits cellular functions that depend on the activity of water in the cell, such as the functioning of its DNA and protein systems and proper assembly of its plasma membrane. [9]
The rate at which fluid is filtered across vascular endothelium (transendothelial filtration) is determined by the sum of two outward forces, capillary pressure and colloid osmotic pressure beneath the endothelial glycocalyx (), and two absorptive forces, plasma protein osmotic pressure and interstitial pressure (). The Starling equation is the ...
Osmoregulation is the active regulation of the osmotic pressure of an organism's body fluids, detected by osmoreceptors, to maintain the homeostasis of the organism's water content; that is, it maintains the fluid balance and the concentration of electrolytes (salts in solution which in this case is represented by body fluid) to keep the body fluids from becoming too diluted or concentrated.
The freezing point depression osmometer is an osmometer that is used in determining a solution's osmotic concentration as its osmotically active aspects depress its freezing point. In the past, freezing point osmometry has been used to assess the osmotic strength of colloids and solutions. The osmometer uses the solution's freezing point ...
For instance, for solutions of magnesium chloride, the vapor pressure is slightly greater than that predicted by Raoult's law up to a concentration of 0.7 mol/kg, after which the vapor pressure is lower than Raoult's law predicts. For aqueous solutions, the osmotic coefficients can be calculated theoretically by Pitzer equations [4] or TCPC model.
The survival of such organisms is thus contingent on their external osmotic environment remaining relatively constant. [3] On the other hand, some osmoconformers are classified as euryhaline, which means they can survive in a broad range of external osmolarities. Mussels are a prime example of a euryhaline osmoconformer.
An osmometer is a device for measuring the osmotic strength of a solution, colloid, or compound. There are several different techniques employed in osmometry: Freezing point depression osmometers may also be used to determine the osmotic strength of a solution, as osmotically active compounds depress the freezing point of a solution. This is ...