Jurongville Secondary School
Secondary 3 Express Biology Notes
Syllabus 5100
Name: _________________________ ( )
Class: Sec 3___ Date: ____________
Chapter 3: Diffusion, Osmosis & Surface Area: Volume Ratio
3.1 Diffusion
• Definition: The net movement of ions or molecules of a substance from a region where
they are in a higher concentration to a region where they are in lower concentration,
down a diffusion gradient
• Diffusion gradient: Difference in concentrations of a substance between the two regions
o The steeper the diffusion gradient, the faster will be the rate of diffusion for the
substance
• Diffusion may occur with or without the presence of a membrane
3.1.1 Types of membranes
• Permeable membrane: Allows all molecules (solute or solvent) to pass thorough it
o Example of permeable membrane: Cellulose cell wall in plants
• Partially permeable (or selectively permeable) membrane: Allows certain molecules to
pass through it but not others
o Example of selectively permeable membrane: Cell membrane in all cells
3.2 Osmosis
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• Definition: The net movement of water molecules across a selectively-permeable
membrane from a region of higher water potential to a region of lower water potential,
down a water potential gradient
• Water potential: A measure of how much water is present in comparison with solute
molecules in the same volume of solution
o Low water potential High solute concentration (solution is concentrated)
o High water potential Low solute concentration (solution is dilute)
• Osmosis is therefore a special case of diffusion!
• Take note: Osmosis occurs only when a selectively permeable membrane is used!
• Example of Diffusion (Permeable membrane separates dilute and concentrated
solutions)
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• Example of Osmosis (Selectively permeable membrane separates dilute and
concentrated solutions)
• Special Definitions of Solutions with respect to Fig 2.4 above
o Note: This definitions only apply to ANIMAL systems!!
Term State of solution
Hypotonic • Solution A (higher water potential) is hypotonic with respect to
solution B (lower water potential)
Hypertonic • Solution B (lower water potential) is hypertonic with respect to
solution A (higher water potential)
Isotonic • Solutions A and B have the same water potential and are said to be
isotonic
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3.3 Osmosis in living systems (Cells)
• Cell surface membrane is selectively permeable
• In plant cells, remember also that the cell wall is tough, slightly-elastic and permeable
o Its cell sap in the vacuole is highly concentrated as it contains a mixture of
substances
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3.4 Active Transport
• Definition: Process where energy is used to move the particles of a substance against a
concentration gradient from a region of lower solute concentration to a region of higher
solute concentration
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• Cells carrying out active transport usually
o Contains numerous mitochondria
o Have high cellular respiratory rate to provide energy needed
3.5 Transport across the cell surface membrane
• Materials move in and out of cells across their cell membranes by the following methods:
o Diffusion: eg. Uptake of oxygen and excretion of carbon dioxide by all living cells
during respiration
o Osmosis: eg. Uptake of water molecules from the soil by root hair cells and the
flow of water from here to the xylem vessel of the root
o Active transport: eg. Uptake of
(a) Mineral salts (ions) by root hair cells
(b) Glucose and amino acids by the epithelial cells in the villi of the
small intestine
3.6 Surface Area: Volume Ratio
• It is very important that the rates of movement of substances (oxygen, carbon dioxide
and nutrients) across cell membranes must be high enough to meet the metabolic needs
of the cells
• How fast these 3 processes is taking place depends strongly on the ratio of the surface
area of the cells to its volume
SurfaceAre a
o Mathematically, is it defined as
Volume
o Normally expressed in ratio form
• The greater the surface area: volume ratio The faster the rate at which these
processes (diffusion, osmosis, active transport) take place
• A smaller cell has a larger surface area: volume ratio than a large cell of the same shape
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o Thus, a large organism is made up of many small cells (multicellular)
• Having multifold of cell surface membrane can increase surface area: volume ratio of a
cell.
o This modification is very important to cells that are concerned with absorption of
substances. Eg. Microvilli of cells lining the small intestine
