What is Osmotic Pressure?
Osmotic pressure is the pressure that develops across a semipermeable membrane due to the concentration difference of solutes between two solutions separated by the membrane. Specifically, it is the pressure required to prevent the flow of solvent from a solution with a lower concentration of solutes to a solution with a higher concentration of solutes. Osmotic pressure plays a crucial role in various biological and industrial processes, such as water absorption by plant roots and the separation of solutes in Industrial Processes.
In summary, osmotic pressure is a colligative property of solutions, which means it depends only on the number of solute particles in a solution and not on their identity. It is defined as the pressure required to stop the net movement of solvent molecules across a semipermeable membrane from an area of low solute concentration to an area of high solute concentration.
Difference Between Osmotic Pressure and Oncotic Pressure
Osmotic pressure and oncotic pressure are both related to the movement of fluids across a membrane, but they have different underlying mechanism and functions. Osmotic pressure is the force that drives the movement of water molecules from a region of low solute concentration to a high solute concentration, while oncotic pressure is the force exerted by proteins in the blood that draws water into the blood vessels. Understanding the difference between these two pressures is important in fields such as physiology, medicine and biochemistry.