Question

How is osmosis different from diffusion?

Answer 1

The movement from its higher concentration to the region of lower concentration of any substance is known as diffusion and it occurs in all directions. The movement of low solute concentration to the region of high solute concentration of water or any other solvent is osmosis.

Complete answer:
1)Diffusion is the change in the concentration of any moving particle from the higher to lower region and osmosis is the change in the concentration of moving solvent particles from the lower solute to the higher across a semipermeable region.

2)Based on occurrence diffusion occurs in liquids and gasses and osmosis occurs in liquids only.

3)Based on permeability in diffusion membrane separation is not required and in osmosis, there is a requirement of a semipermeable membrane.

4)Based on the movement in diffusion for movement water is not necessary and in osmosis to move from one region to another water is the main solvent.

5)Based on the direction in diffusion, the constituents flow in all directions and osmosis constituents flow occurs in only one direction.

6)Based on the process in diffusion the process is natural and cannot be stopped but in osmosis, the process can be reversed by applying an external force.

Note: Example of diffusion can be adding ink in water leads to the color change of the water and an example of osmosis can be when red blood cells are exposed to water they swell up and only solvent moves in osmosis but in diffusion both solvent and solute can move.