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Passive Transport
5.1 Terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| passive transport | the movement of substances across a cell membrane without the use of energy by the cell |
| diffusion | the movement of particles from regions of higher density to regions of lower density |
| concentration gradient | a difference in the concentration of a substance across a distance |
| equilibrium | in physics, the state in which opposing forces balance each other |
| osmosis | the diffusion of water or another solvent from a more dilute solution (of a solute) to a more concentrated solution (of the solute) through a membrane that is permeable to the solvent |
| hypotonic | describes a solution whose solute concentration is lower than the solute concentration inside a cell |
| hypertonic | describes a solution whose solute concentration is higher than the solute concentration inside a cell |
| isotonic | a solution whose solute concentration is equal to the solute concentration inside a cell |
| contractile vacuole | in protozoans, an organelle that accumulates water and then releases it periodically to maintain osmotic pressure |
| turgor pressure | the pressure that is exerted on the inside of cell walls and that is caused by the movement of water into the cell |
| plasmolysis | the contraction or shrinking of the cell membrane of a plant cell in a hypertonic solution in response to the loss of water by osmosis |
| cytolysis | the bursting of a cell |
| facilitated diffusion | the transport of substances through a cell membrane along a concentration gradient with the aid of carrier proteins |
| carrier protein | a protein that transports substances across a cell membrane |
| ion channel | a pore in a cell membrane through which ions can pass |