What is the movement of substances from a region of high concentration to low?

Amanda is a retired educator with many years of experience teaching children of all ages and abilities in various contexts.

The Fluid-Mosaic Model of the Cell Membrane

The cell membrane is a fluid, semi-permeable barrier which not only protects the interior of the cell but controls the movement of substances in and out.

William Cochot CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Cellular Transport

Two main methods by which organisms move materials around inside their bodies are important for an understanding of cellular transport:

• mass flow is the simple mechanism by which particles are physically carried along in the stream of a fluid, such as water, air or blood. It is a quick and efficient means of transporting substances over relatively long distances.
• diffusion, osmosis and active transport are three similar chemical methods by which single molecules or very small structures are moved across membranes or relatively short distances, often within or between cells.

The movement of substances in and out of cells (nutrients in and toxins out, for example) is a very important part of biology as without it no cell and so no organism could live very long. Substances can only cross the protective cell membrane by diffusion, osmosis or active transport (don't worry - these terms will all be explained shortly). Mass flow only works at the organ, tissue and whole organism level.

What is the Cell Membrane?

You probably already know that all matter is made up of tiny, invisible atoms. When atoms become linked together, they form molecules. Both atoms and molecules can develop an electrical charge. Electrically charged atoms or molecules are called ions.

In biology, we use the simple term particles to refer to all of these things: atoms, molecules and ions.

It is these particles that move within and between cells by diffusion, osmosis or active transport. Particles can only be moved in out of cells when they are dissolved in water. Water with particles dissolved in it is known as a solution. The water in a solution is called the solvent and the particles are called the solute. We will come back to these terms later.

So that you can easily check your understanding, there's a fun quiz to do at the end. All the answers can be found on this page and you'll get your score straight-away.

What is Diffusion?

The classic definition of diffusion is the movement of a substance from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration (the concentration gradient). But what does that actually mean?

Particles are always in random motion. Concentration simply means how many particles there are in a given volume. By random motion, particles will naturally spread out from where there are lots of them to where there are few or none. This is what we mean by diffusion along the concentration gradient.

Watch this short animation to better understand this idea:

Diffusion Down the Concentration Gradient

Cells and Diffusion

Two conditions must be met for a substance to enter a cell by diffusion.

• The cell's membrane must be permeable to that particular substance. This means, that substance must be able, somehow, to cross the membrane without breaking it.
• The concentration of the substance inside the cell is lower than it is outside.

Oxygen is an excellent example of a substance vital to life which enters cells by the process of diffusion. Oxygen is consumed by cells in the process of respiration. This means that the concentration of oxygen in any given cell is likely to decrease. This creates a concentration gradient which draws new oxygen into the cell by diffusion across the cell membrane.

The process of diffusion along a concentration gradient can also operate to move substances out of cells. An excellent example of this is the case of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a by-product of respiration. Consequently, carbon dioxide tends to increase in concentration in cells. Molecules of carbon dioxide exit the cell by diffusion once the concentration of the substance inside the cell is higher than it is outside the cell.

In both of these examples, the particles that make up the substance are moving down a concentration gradient: from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration.

Increasing Rates of Diffusion

Diffusion in itself is generally a very slow process. Sometimes cells need to move substances more quickly and so a number of mechanisms have evolved to speed diffusion up.

These mechanisms use three key factors:

• temperature
• surface area to volume ratio
• concentration gradient

Let's look at each in turn.

Temperature and Diffusion

You probably already know that when the temperature of a substance increases (it gets hotter) the particles that compose the substance start to move around a lot faster. This increase in movement when substances warm up can also help propel diffusion as the particles get going at a quicker rate.

Scientific Temperatures

In biology and the other sciences, temperature is always measured and expressed in °C (degrees Celsius) and not in Fahrenheit, which you may be more familiar with at home.

Humans are "warm-blooded" animals or more properly, endotherms. This means that we can maintain a steady internal temperature. In our case this is about 37°C and maintains our metabolism even when it is cold in the environment. All mammals are endothermic. Most reptiles, however, are exotherms, or "cold-blooded" and have to shut down if the environmental temperature falls below a certain level.

Surface Area to Volume Ratio

The larger a cell's surface area, quicker the movement of substances in and out. This is simply because there is more membrane for the substances to cross over. You can imagine the cell as a room, perhaps. If the doorway is wide, more people can walk in or out together. If the doorway is narrow, fewer people can come in and out at any one time.

But having a big surface area alone doesn't necessarily speed up diffusion. That large surface area has to be in a certain ratio to the internal volume of the cell. Sounds complicated? It does sound that way, but don't worry, it's actually fairly easy to grasp.

Being Small Helps

Being small and spherical helps cells to maintain a good volume to surface area ratio. Other adaptations include 'wobbly' membranes and flattening, all of which increase surface area and therefore the cell's ability to absorb substances by diffusion.

Ruth lawson CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The most important factor for a cell is not just its surface area, but the surface area to volume ratio. The consumption rate of substances is dependent upon volume, but it is the cell membrane's surface area that determines the rate of absorption of new material.

In other words, the greater the surface area of the cell compared to its volume, the more efficient the cell will be in performing its functions.

It is interesting to note that as a cell gets bigger, its volume will increase more than its surface area. Let's look at what happens if you double the size of a cell:

• doubling a cell's size increases its volume 8 times.
• doubling a cell's size increases its surface area only 4 times.

So you can see that there is a negative relationship between size and efficiency in cells. The bigger they get the more difficult it is for them to take up materials fast enough.

How Can a Cell Increase its Surface Area to Volume Ratio?

There are three key ways by which a cell can increase its surface area to volume ratio.

1. Stay small.It is not by chance that our cells are so small. There is a maximum size beyond which they can no longer function. The smaller a cell is, the greater its volume to surface area ratio.
2. Flatten out. If a cell evolves a flat rather than round shape, it can maintain a constant volume while increasing its surface area. Many human cells, such as lung cells and epithelial cells, adopt this approach.
3. Evolve an irregular surface. Cells in the intestine have "wiggly" bits rather like hairs. They are actually part of the cell membrane and they serve to increase the surface area, enabling these specialised cells to better absorb digested food particles. Hairy root cells in plants use the same strategy to absorb nutrients from the soil.

Diffusion Across the Cell Membrane

Diffusion across the cell membrane happens because of the concentration gradient between the intracellular and extracellular environments.

Openstax Biology [CC BY-SA 4.0]

The Concentration Gradient

We have already seen that diffusion means the movement of substances from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration.

However, the rate of diffusion is dependent upon the concentration gradient. The concentration gradient is calculated as the difference in concentration per centimeter.

Imagine a boy rolling a ball down a hill. If the hill is very steep, the ball will roll faster. If a concentration gradient is steep, that is to say it represents a rapid change from high concentration to low concentration, then substances will move down it faster - just like the ball!

A typical cell membrane is very thin. The reason for this is to keep the distance between internal and external concentrations short. This helps create a steeper concentration gradient, enabling the movement of substances in and out of the cell.

When you take a deep breath, the concentration of oxygen in the lungs is increased. The lungs are full of air with a high oxygen concentration compared to a lower oxygen concentration in the blood. Therefore, oxygen diffuses into the bloodstream.

Active Transport

The movement of substances in and out of the cell by diffusion is known as passive transport. However, sometimes substances will not diffuse across the membrane and need to be chemically assisted. This is known as active transport.

A typical situation in which active transport is required is when a substance must travel against the concentration gradient. Clearly in this case diffusion will not help at all!

Active transport always occurs across the cell membrane and it requires an input of extra energy to push the particles up the concentration gradient. The energy for active transport is provided by the process of respiration.

The cell membrane has specialised molecules incorporated into it. These carrier molecules absorb the energy of respiration in order to assist other substances in crossing the cell membrane.

Animation Explaining Active Transport

Osmosis

Osmosis is exactly the same mechanism as diffusion but it is a term used to apply specifically to the movement of water molecules. So when water molecules (H2O) are transferred across a partially permeable membrane from an area of higher to an area of lower concentration, which is called osmosis.

Let's just pause here a moment to give some definitions of a few important terms we've used:

• Partially permeable membrane (also know as a semi-permeable membrane or a selectively permeable membrane). This just means a membrane which only allows some substances through it and not others. Cell membranes are all of this kind.
• One of the ways in which a membrane can be partially permeable is because it is effectively more like a net made of tiny holes. Some particles are small enough to go through these 'pores' and others aren't.
• In a biological cell, water molecules can pass both ways and a net movement always means that more molecules of water travel from higher to lower concentrations than the other way round. Remember, that the diffusion of water molecules is called osmosis.

Osmosis Made Simple

Something to think about...

Biologists will often refer to a solution which contains a large amount of solute as having a 'concentrated solution' but you can also think of that as a solution with a low concentration of water molecules. So the concept of high and low concentration is always relative to the molecules you are referring to!

The Effect of Osmosis on Animal Cells

An animal cell is surrounded by a partially permeable membrane. Because osmosis enables water to flow so freely through the cell system, it can do a lot of harm as well as good. The greatest danger is that of lysis.

• lysis derives from the Greek word for 'split' and it is exactly that. If a cell's external environment is more dilute than its internal environment (cytoplasm) then osmosis causes it to swell with water until it bursts. This is known as lysis.
• If the situation is reversed and too much water leaves the cell, also by osmosis, then the cell can dehydrate and die.

A complex of chemical mechanisms ensures that, in a healthy animal, the tissue fluid surrounding the cells is maintained at an equal concentration to that of the cytoplasm.

Turgid Plant Cells

The Importance of Osmosis for Plant Cells

Osmosis is far less of a threat to plant cells than to animal cells. In fact, they have evolved a rigid cell wall which enables them to use osmosis to their advantage.

Water enters a plant cell by osmosis when the cytoplasm has a lower concentration of water molecules than the surrounding aqueous environment. The cell expands to accommodate the influx of water molecules. This stretches the cell's wall. As we have seen with an animal cell, the membrane is not sufficiently strong to resist too much expansion and can burst, resulting in the cell's death. A plant's cell wall, however, is much stronger and as the cell fills with water, it exerts an opposite pressure until equilibrium is reached and no more water can enter. A plant cell in this state, full to capacity with water molecules, is called turgid.

This process is vital for plants. Turgid cells push tightly together and enable the plant to remain upright and hold its leaves towards the light.

When a plant wilts, or becomes flaccid, it is because of a lack of water. It can no longer absorb sufficient water molecules by osmosis to sustain its turgidity, so the leaves and possibly also the stem lose their main support.

If this condition is acute and prolonged, the vacuole in the plant cell's core, where water and nutrients are stored, can dry out, causing the cytoplasm to shrivel away. A plant in that condition is clearly dying. Its cells are referred to as being plasmolyzed.

Here is a bullet point summary of what we have learned on this page:

• Substances move in and out of cells by diffusion down a concentration gradient, through a partially permeable membrane.
• The efficiency of movement of substances in and out of a cell is determined by its volume to surface area ratio.
• Selected substances can move up a concentration gradient with the help of specialized molecules embedded in the membrane. This is called assisted diffusion or active transport.
• Osmosis is a type of diffusion but refers only to the movement of water molecules.
• Uncontrolled osmosis into an animal cell can cause the cell's death.
• Plants have rigid cell walls which stop them bursting. They can fill with water and become turgid, which helps support the plant.

Keywords

• Diffusion
• Partially permeable
• Solute
• Active transport
• Turgid
• Wilt
• Surface area
• Concentration gradient
• Osmosis
• Particle
• Flaccid
• Plasmolyzed

Quiz time. Instant Results!

For each question, choose the best answer. The answer key is below.

1. Diffusion is ...
   • when one substance spreads out through another.
   • a form of radioactivity which cells use to communicate.
   • the movement of particles from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration.
2. Active transport is when ...
   • specialized molecules help move selected particles up a concentration gradient.
   • the way cells move from one part of the body to another.
   • a process which occurs when an animal cell is dying.
3. A plant cell is said to be turgid when ...
   • it loses its green color.
   • is full of water molecules.
   • begins the process of decay as substances leave the vacuole by diffusion.
4. Osmosis is ...
   • a form of diffusion involving water molecules.
   • the Greek god of water.
   • a scientific process by which plant cells can be duplicated in the laboratory.
5. A partially permeable membrane is also known as ...
   • Jonathon.
   • a semi permeable membrane.
   • the cell wall.

Answer Key

1. the movement of particles from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration.
2. specialized molecules help move selected particles up a concentration gradient.
3. is full of water molecules.
4. a form of diffusion involving water molecules.
5. a semi permeable membrane.

Interpreting Your Score

If you got between 0 and 1 correct answer: A good attempt, but some revision might be worthwhile to improve your score.

If you got between 2 and 3 correct answers: You've grasped all the basics - well done! A bit of revision would help consolidate your knowledge.

If you got 4 correct answers: That's a great score - well done!

If you got 5 correct answers: Fantastic result! You have a good understanding of all the material. Excellent!

© 2015 Amanda Littlejohn

Amanda Littlejohn (author) on April 01, 2016:

Hi Alexis!

Thank you so much for your comment. Sorry it has taken me so long to reply, but I have only just received my notifications. Seems there was a glitch on some hubs.

I'm glad you enjoyed this biology article and I hope you find it useful for your son.

Bless you :)

Ashley Ferguson from Indiana/Chicagoland on February 18, 2016:

I loved biology as a child. Thank you for providing a child-friendly hub for my my son one day. :) Hope to see you around in the hubs.

Amanda Littlejohn (author) on January 06, 2016:

Hi Shelley!

Thanks for your comment - I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

FlourishAnyway from USA on December 06, 2015:

Excellent educational hub. Very thorough and well researched!