Osmotický

Osmotické refers to phenomena related to osmosis. Osmosis is the spontaneous net movement of solvent molecules through a selectively permeable membrane into a region of higher solute concentration, in the order to equalize the solute concentrations on the two sides. This process is a type of diffusion. Osmosis occurs in biological systems as well as in chemical and physical processes.

In biology, osmosis is crucial for the transport of water across cell membranes. Plant cells, for instance, absorb water by osmosis, which helps maintain turgor pressure. Animal cells also rely on osmosis to regulate their internal water balance. When a cell is placed in a solution with a different solute concentration, water will move across the cell membrane to equalize the concentration. This can lead to cells shrinking or swelling, depending on whether the surrounding solution is hypertonic or hypotonic, respectively.

Osmotic pressure is the minimum pressure which needs to be applied to a solution to prevent the inward flow of its pure solvent across a semipermeable membrane. It is related to the concentration of solutes in a solution. The concept of osmotic pressure is important in fields like medicine, for example, in understanding fluid shifts in the body, and in food science, for preserving food through methods like salting or sugaring, which create hypertonic environments that inhibit microbial growth. Osmotic processes are also exploited in technologies such as reverse osmosis, used for water purification and desalination.