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The process of osmosis over a semipermeable membrane.The blue dots represent particles driving the osmotic gradient. Osmosis (/ ɒ z ˈ m oʊ s ɪ s /, US also / ɒ s-/) [1] is the spontaneous net movement or diffusion of solvent molecules through a selectively-permeable membrane from a region of high water potential (region of lower solute concentration) to a region of low water potential ...
It can be described as the measure of the potential energy stored (chemiosmotic potential) as a combination of proton and voltage (electrical potential) gradients across a membrane. The electrical gradient is a consequence of the charge separation across the membrane (when the protons H + move without a counterion , such as chloride Cl − ).
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.
Biological thermodynamics (Thermodynamics of biological systems) is a science that explains the nature and general laws of thermodynamic processes occurring in living organisms as nonequilibrium thermodynamic systems that convert the energy of the Sun and food into other types of energy.
This is well known in reverse osmosis where solutes from the feedwater diffuse to the product water, however in the case of forward osmosis the situation can be far more complicated. In FO processes we may have solute diffusion in both directions depending on the composition of the draw solution, type of membrane used and feed water ...
Higher salt gradients can be found in geothermal brines and desalination plant brines, [18] and SaltPower, a Danish company, is now building its first commercial plant with high salinity brine. [19] There is perhaps more potential in integrating Pressure Retarded Osmosis as an operating mode of reverse osmosis, rather than a stand-alone ...
The concepts of Hess's law can be expanded to include changes in entropy and in Gibbs free energy, since these are also state functions. The Bordwell thermodynamic cycle is an example of such an extension that takes advantage of easily measured equilibria and redox potentials to determine experimentally inaccessible Gibbs free energy values.
Additionally, in some organisms the efflux of amino acids associated with hypo-osmotic stress can be inhibited by phenothiazines. [9] Hypo-osmotic stress is correlated with extracellular ATP release. ATP is used to activate purinergic receptors. [10] These receptors regulate sodium and potassium levels on either side of the cell membrane.