CHEMISTRY INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

TOPIC- OSMOSIS, REVERSE

OSMOSIS AND ITS
APPLICATIONS

NAME: DIVYA
KR TIWARI
CLASS: XII-C
ADMISSION No:
21200 ACADAMIC
YEAR: 2024-25

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 Certificate of Merit
This is to certify that Mr.
DIVYA KR TIWARI of class
XII-C has successfully
completed the investigatory
Chemistry project report
prescribed by the CBSE in the
laboratory of ARMY PUBLIC
SCHOOL, NEHRU ROAD in
the academic year 2024-
2025.

Signature of Teacher
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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In the accomplishment of this project
successfully, many people have best
owned upon me their blessings and the
heart pledged support, this time I am
utilizing to thank all the people who have
been concerned with this project.
Primarily I would thank God for being able
to complete this project with success.
Then I would like to thank my Chemistry
Teacher Mr. VK TIWARI, whose valuable
guidance has been the once that helped
me patch this project and make it full
proof success. The suggestions and
instructions by my teacher served as the
major contribute towards the completion
of the Project.
Then I like to thank my parents who have
helped me with their valuable
suggestions, ideas and guidance has

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been very helpful in various phases for
completion of the project. Last but not the
least I would like to thank my classmates
who have helped me a lot in completion
of the project.

INDEX
Sr DESCRIPTION Page
No. No.
1. Certificate of Merit 2
2. Acknowledgement 3
3. Introduction on Osmosis 5
4. Osmotic Solutions 5,6
5. Types of Osmosis 6,7
6. Osmotic Pressure 8,9
7. Significance of Osmosis 9,10
8. Applications of Osmosis 11,12,
13
9. Reverse Osmosis 13,14
10. Application of Reverse Osmosis 15,16

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 11. Difference Between Osmosis 17
and Reverse Osmosis

12. Conclusion 18

What is
Osmosis?
“Osmosis is a process by which the
molecules of a solvent pass from a solution
of low concentration to a solution of high
concentration through a semipermeable
membrane.”
 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 .

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Osmotic Solutions
There are three different types of solutions:
• Isotonic Solution
• Hypertonic Solution
• Hypotonic Solution
An isotonic solution is one that has the same
concentration of solutes both inside and
outside the cell.
A hypertonic solution is one that has a higher
solute concentration outside the cell than
inside.
A hypotonic solution is the one that has a higher
solute concentration inside the cell than outside.

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Types of Osmosis
Osmosis is of two types:
Endosmosis– When a substance is placed in a
hypotonic solution, the solvent molecules move
inside the cell and the cell becomes turgid or
undergoes de plasmolysis. This is known as
endosmosis.
Example: Raisins swell when placed in normal
water.
Exosmosis– When a substance is placed in a
hypertonic solution, the solvent molecules move
outside the cell and the cell becomes flaccid or
undergoes plasmolysis. This is known as
exosmosis.
Example: Raisins shrivel when placed in a
concentrated salt solution.

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Difference between Endosmosis and
Exosmosis.

ENDOSMOSIS EXOSMOSIS
The solvent moves The solvent moves out
into the of the cell.
cell. (Exo = outside)
(Endo = inside)
Osmosis towards the Osmosis towards the
inside of a cell. outside of a cell.
Occurs when there is Occurs when the
lower osmotic osmotic pressure is
pressure. higher.

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 Hypotonic solutions Hypertonic solutions
induce endosmosis in induce exosmosis in
cells cells
(distilled water is (Intravenous Fluid is
hypotonic because it often hypertonic as it
contains no solute). has many solutes).
Higher water potential Lower water potential
of the surrounding of the surrounding
areas when compared areas when compared
to the cytosol to the cytosol.
(the watery part of
cytoplasm in a cell).
As a result, the cell As a result, the cell
swells. shrinks.
Osmotic Pressure
Osmotic pressure is the pressure required to stop
water from diffusing through a membrane by
osmosis. It is determined by the concentration of
the solute. Water diffuses into the area of higher
concentration from the area of lower concentration.
When the concentration of the substances in the
two areas in contact is different, the substances
will diffuse until the concentration is uniform
throughout.
Osmotic pressure can be calculated using the
equation:

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Π = CRT
where Π denotes the osmotic pressure,
M is the molar concentration of the solute,
R is the gas
constant; T is the
temperature.

Significance of Osmosis
 Osmosis influences the transport of nutrients
and the release of metabolic waste products.
 It is responsible for the absorption of water from
the soil and conducting it to the upper parts of
the plant through the xylem.

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  It stabilizes the internal environment of a living
organism by maintaining the balance between
water and intercellular fluid levels.
 It maintains the turgidity of cells.
 It is a process by which plants maintain their
water content despite the constant water loss
due to transpiration.
 This process controls the cell-to-cell diffusion of
water.
 Osmosis induces cell turgor which regulates the
movement of plants and plant parts.
 Osmosis also controls the dehiscence of fruits
and sporangia.
 Higher osmotic pressure protects the plants
against drought injury.

Applications of Osmosis
Osmosis has a significant role to play in plants,
animals and also in humans.
1. The absorption of water from the soil is due
to osmosis.
The plant roots have a higher concentration than
the soil, therefore, the water flows into the roots.

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The absorbed water is transported through the
roots to the rest of the plant where it is used for
different purposes:
 It is a reactant used in photosynthesis.
 It supports leaves and shoots by keeping the
cells rigid.
 It cools the leaves by evaporation.
 It transports dissolved minerals around the
plant.
2. Preserving Fruits and Meats
Osmosis is also used for preserving fruits and
meats, though the process is quite different for the
two. In the case of fruit, osmosis is used to
dehydrate it, whereas in the preservation of meat,
osmosis draws salt into it, thus preventing the
intrusion of bacteria.
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Most fruits are about 75% water, and this makes
them highly susceptible to spoilage. To preserve
fruit, it must be dehydrated, which—as in the case
of the salt in the meat—presents bacteria with a
less-than-hospitable environment. Over the years,
people have tried a variety of methods for drying
fruit, but most of these have a tendency to shrink
and harden the fruit. The reason for this is that
most drying methods, such as heat from the Sun,
are relatively quick and drastic; osmosis, on the
other hand, is slower, more moderate—and closer
to the behaviour of nature.

Osmotic dehydration techniques, in fact, result in

fruit that can be stored longer than fruit
dehydrated by other methods. This in turn makes
it possible to provide consumers with a wider
variety of fruit throughout the year. Also, the fruit
itself tends to maintain more of its flavour and
nutritional qualities while keeping out
microorganisms.

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3. Humans suffering from cholera are also
affected by osmosis. The bacteria that
overpopulate the intestines reverse the flow of
absorption and do not allow water to be absorbed
by the intestines, which results in dehydration.
4. When the fingers are placed in water
for a longer period of time, they become prune
due to the flow of water inside the cells.
5. One vital process closely linked to
osmosis is dialysis, which is critical to the
survival of many victims of kidney diseases.
Dialysis is the process by which an artificial
kidney machine removes waste products from a
patients' blood— performing the role of a
healthy, normally functioning kidney. The
openings in the dialyzing membrane are such
that not only water, but salts and other waste
dissolved in the blood, pass through to a
surrounding tank of distilled water. The red
blood cells, on the other hand, are too large to
enter the dialyzing membrane, so they return to
the patient's body.

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Reverse osmosis is a special type of filtration that
uses a semi-permeable, porous membrane, that
allows only pure water to pass through it, filtering
the larger molecules or impurities.
“The direction of osmosis can be reversed, if a
pressure larger than the osmotic pressure is
applied to the solution side. Now the pure
solvent flows out of the solution through the
semipermeable membrane. This phenomenon is
called Reverse Osmosis”.

Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification

process that removes ions, unwanted molecules
and larger particles from drinking water using a
partially permeable membrane. As a result, the
solute is kept on the membrane’s pressurized side
and the pure solvent is allowed to pass to the other
side.
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Osmotic pressure is the minimum pressure required
to stop solvent flow through the semipermeable
membrane. Therefore, when the solution side (the
side where the solute concentration is high) is
subjected to a pressure greater than the osmotic
pressure, the solvent particles on the solution side
move through the semipermeable membrane to
the region where the solute concentration is low.
Such inverse solvent movement through the
semipermeable membrane is called reverse
Osmosis.

Advantages of Reverse Osmosis

Reverse Osmosis has several advantages
including the following:
Bacteria, viruses and pyrogen materials are
rejected by the intact membrane. In this
respect RO water approaches distilled water
in quality.
Available units are relatively compact and
require little space. They are well suited to
home dialysis.
In average use, the membrane has a life of a
little more than one to two years before
replacement is necessary.

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 Periodic complete sterilization of the RO
system with formalin or other sterilant is
practical.

APPLICATION OF REVERSE
OSMOSIS
Desalination of Water
98% of the Earth’s water is saltwater, found in
seas and oceans. The other 2% is freshwater,
for use by homes, farms and industry, but
40% of people cannot access it. Some people
have to travel miles to find freshwater. Could
we, however, use saltwater to supply the
places that most need it? Yes. Desalination
technology makes that possible.
The most advanced and efficient system is
reverse osmosis.
We take in seawater, a highly concentrated
solution, and force it through the membrane by
adding pressure. On the other side, we obtain salt-
free water, while back on the first side the

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remaining water still holds the salt the membrane
prevented from passing through.
In reverse osmosis desalination, water is taken
from the sea and receives a first treatment to
eliminate impurities, oil, seaweed, rubbish, and so
on. Once free of organic substances, the saltwater
can be subjected to reverse osmosis. After the
filtering, we have two streams: one brine and the
other freshwater. The brine solution is diluted
before being returned to the sea, avoiding high
concentrations of salt which could harm the
ecosystem. The freshwater passes through a
demineralization and chlorination process, after
which it is stored in tanks and then sent to the
distribution network for consumption.

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Reverse osmosis is not only the most
advanced desalination system in the world
today, it is the most efficient and beneficial
for the planet: it generates up to four-and-a
half-times fewer greenhouse gas emissions
than all other technologies, it doesn’t harm
the marine environment, and it’s able to
recover a large part of the energy used in the
process.

Difference between Osmosis and Reverse

Osmosis
Following are the major differences between
osmosis and reverse osmosis:

OSMOSIS REVERSE OSMOSIS

This is the process by This is the process by
which the molecules of a which the molecules of a
solvent pass solvent pass
through the semi- through the semi-
permeable permeable from
membrane from a region a region of higher
of lower concentration to a concentration to lower
higher concentration. concentration when

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 pressure greater than the
osmotic pressure is
applied.
It is a natural process. It is an artificial process.

Occurs along the potential Occurs against the

gradient. potential gradient.
This is observed during the This is used in water
opening of stomata and purification systems.
absorption of water from
the soil by the roots.

CONCLUSION
Osmosis and Reverse osmosis are very helpful in
our daily. There are plenty of daily life applications
in this topic. The people find very much beneficial
due to this process. This process very much useful
in sectors like Agriculture,
Industries which are the backbone of every
country. Also, these processes do not cause any

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pollution much because these are natural
processes which can reduce pollution and make
our environment pollution free. Desalination of
water by Reverse Osmosis is very much useful as
Water is precious source for our mankind.
Desalination process provides us a good quality
and contaminated free water to drink and stay
healthy and disease free.

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