Osmotic Pressure and Osmotic Potential: Osmosis is a passive process and happens without any expenditure of energy. It involves the movement of molecules from a region of higher concentration to lower concentration until the concentrations become equal on either side of the membrane. Any solvent can undergo the process of osmosis including gases and supercritical liquids.

Osmotic Pressure and Osmotic Potential

What is Osmotic Pressure?

Osmotic pressure can be defined as the minimum pressure that must be applied to a solution to halt the flow of solvent molecules through a semipermeable membrane (osmosis). It is a colligative property and is dependent on the concentration of solute particles in the solution. Osmotic pressure can be calculated with the help of the following formula:

π = iCRT

Where,

• π is the osmotic pressure
• i is the van’t Hoff factor
• C is the molar concentration of the solute in the solution
• R is the universal gas constant
• T is the temperature

What is Osmotic Potential?

The osmotic potential also called solute potential is the potential of water molecules to move from a hypotonic solution to a hypertonic solution across a semipermeable membrane. So the water will move from high concentration to low concentration. The value of osmotic potential of a solution is always negative because the presence of solutes will always make a solution have less water.

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By Team Learning Mantras