Understanding Osmosis with a Simulation

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Osmosis is the movement of water across a cell membrane from an area of low solute concentration to an area of high solute concentration. This simulation shows how water moves in and out of a cell depending on the surrounding solution:

• Hypotonic solution: Water moves into the cell, making it swell. You’ll see blue water particles flowing toward the cell which makes the cell grow. This means the cell is placed in a solution with a low concentration of solute. 

• Hypertonic solution: Water moves out of the cell, making it shrink. The water particles start at the cell surface and flow outwards, while the cell gets smaller. This means the cell is placed in a solution with a high-concentration solute. 

• Isotonic solution: Water moves in and out evenly, so the cell stays the same size. Particles flow in both directions, but the cell doesn’t change. This is when the solute concentrations are the same both inside and outside the cell.

The water particles are animated to show the movement visually to depict the cell’s size depending on whether it is placed in a high or low solute concentration of water.