Prompt #2
Chandler Bentley
Osmosis, diffusion, and active transport are the similar. If you were to just take the basics of these three ideas, they would be considered the same. With diffusion, osmosis, and active transport, it’s the little things that make them different. There are many things that act the same between the three and only little things are the things that separate them and make them different from each other.
Diffusion is the process in which molecules mix because of their random kinetic energy. When these molecules bounce in random directions, they intertwine with each other and create a mixture of the two molecules. With these molecules bouncing around two areas, they collide often which keeps their movement random. Think of it this way. If two containers of gas separated by a partition and with the molecules bouncing around, they constantly hit the partition and the other molecules. If the partition is removed between the two containers, the molecules will intertwine with each other because of their random motions.
On the other hand, osmosis goes hand in hand with diffusion but it is still different. Osmosis is the process in which two solutions are separated within a cell by a semi-permeable membrane. This means that the smaller solvent molecules can make it through but the larger solvent molecules cannot. When this happens, the solvent will tend to diffuse from the less concentrated areas to the higher concentrated areas. The solvent is this process is water. This transport between these two concentrated areas is essential to the life of many organizmes and cells.
Osmosis is actually a form of diffusion. This certain process is driven by internal energy of the solvent molecules. The energy that helps this process run is usually expressed in terms of osmotic pressure. If on both sides of membrane there was pure water, the osmotic pressure would be zero. The osmotic pressure varies between the concentration of the two sides of the membrane. High osmotic pressure is given to the solution while pure water is given the osmotic pressure of zero. Energy that makes the fluid transfer is thermal energy of the water molecules. Because of this, if there are more water molecules in the pure solvent, the energy density is higher. The thermal energy of these molecules does not differ the transport.
Active transport still differs even though still very common to the other two. This tendency is greatly based upon thermal energy. Going against diffusion and osmosis, active transport is when a molecule is needed to be transported from an area of low concentration to an area of high concentration but need to overcome the influences of diffusion and osmosis. This is also a difference because osmosis and diffusion is a type of passive transport which differs from active transport.
Active transport consists of the usage of energy as passive transport does not use any energy at all. Active transport needs energy because it transfers molecules against the concentration gradient while passive transport goes with the concentration gradient. With this happening, active transport needs energy because it goes against the natural movement of the molecules with the concentration gradient.
With all of these differences between active transport, diffusion, and osmosis, it is clear that there are differences between these three. Although there is more of a difference between active transport and passive transport (osmosis and diffusion are types of passive transport), there are still differences between the three. With the technology we have today to realize that there are differences and these are essentially to our life, we see the differences between these three that we would have never discovered before.
