OSMOTIC PRESSURE, OSMOTIC VALUE, AND SUCTION TENSION

Brownian motion, hydrodynamics, and the osmotic pressure

It is shown that the osmotic pressure of a colloidal dispersion can be interpreted as the isotropic part of the macroscopic particle stress in the suspension. The particle stress is in turn expressible in terms of hydrodynamic interactions among the suspended particles. Thus, there is a completely mechanical definition of the osmotic pressure, just as there is for the pressure in a molecular fl...

Modeling the Mechanics of Cell Division: Influence of Spontaneous Membrane Curvature, Surface Tension, and Osmotic Pressure

Many cell division processes have been conserved throughout evolution and are being revealed by studies on model organisms such as bacteria, yeasts, and protozoa. Cellular membrane constriction is one of these processes, observed almost universally during cell division. It happens similarly in all organisms through a mechanical pathway synchronized with the sequence of cytokinetic events in the...

Osmotic propulsion: the osmotic motor.

A model for self-propulsion of a colloidal particle--the osmotic motor--immersed in a dispersion of "bath" particles is presented. The nonequilibrium concentration of bath particles induced by a surface chemical reaction creates an osmotic pressure imbalance on the motor causing it to move. The ratio of the speed of reaction to that of diffusion governs the bath particle distribution which is e...

A simple student laboratory on osmotic flow, osmotic pressure, and the reflection coefficient.

Osmosis is usually taught from the point of view of the osmotic pressure developed when solutions of different concentrations of solute are separated by an ideal semipermeable membrane. The osmotic pressure is defined at equilibrium when there is no net flow, and it takes some time to reach this equilibrium. Although the osmotic pressure is certainly important, teaching only this point of view ...

Maintenance of Osmotic Pressure within the Nucleus