Diffusion/Osmosis Kit • ME-6942

It's an image found in nearly every biology textbook: a U-shaped tube with a permeable membrane separating a hypotonic and hypertonic solution. And yet few methods of studying osmosis take advantage of this simple and elegant design for lab work.

But the PASCO Diffusion/Osmosis Kit has other distinct advantages. With the Dual Pressure Sensor, students can actually explore the rate of water movement and quantify pressure changes occurring in the system. Plus, the results are accurate and collected within a fraction of the time it takes to use a dialysis bag.

Thanks to its versatile design, the Diffusion/Osmosis Kit can be used with introductory biology students to show the movement of water due to osmosis or to illustrate the concept of semi-permeability. Advanced students can measure the effects of varying the solute concentrations or changing the pressure of the two solutions. 

This versatility also means the same setup can be used by chemistry teachers exploring relationships between volume and pressure, or environmental science teachers wishing to illustrate water movement in soil and within a plant.

How It Works

The Diffusion/Osmosis Apparatus is a U-shaped tube composed of two columns separated by a semi-permeable membrane. Alone, the Diffusion/Osmosis Apparatus allows students to observe and measure volume changes due to osmosis and solute changes due to diffusion. With the PASPORT Dual Pressure Sensor, the Diffusion/Osmosis Apparatus allows students to measure the changes in pressure and volume caused by the osmotic movement of water across a semi-permeable membrane from a hypotonic solution to a hypertonic solution.

What's Included

• 1x PASPORT Dual Pressure Sensor (PS-2181)
• 1x Diffusion Osmosis Apparatus