The passage of liquid through a semi-permeable partition, for example clay or parchment paper or cell walls in living organisms, which separates two liquids of different concentrations. Osmosis also plays a major role in metabolism. The phenomenon was discovered by the Danish chemist Jacobus Hoff (1852-1911) in 1874. This partition (also known as a diaphragm) is only permeable to the molecules of a liquid (e.g. water), but not to the dissolved substance (e.g. sugar molecules) due to the corresponding pore size. Diffusion (flowing apart) takes place towards the concentrated solution. If a container-1 (with a semi-permeable outer wall) with a highly concentrated solution (e.g. sugar water) is placed in a container-2 with pure water so that there is an equal liquid level in both containers, then the water molecules migrate towards container-1.
The water molecules are "sucked in", so to speak, because there are fewer water molecules there. The level in container 1 rises (limit value) until the...
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