“what is the effect of molecule size on a molecule’s ability to diffuse across a semipermeable membrane?”

The Elements of Life

In biology, the elements of life are the essential building blocks that make up living things. They are carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur. The first four of these are the most important, as they are used to construct the molecules that are necessary to make up living cells. These elements form the basic building blocks of the major macromolecules of life, including carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and proteins. Carbon is an important element for all living organisms, as it is used to construct the basic building blocks of life, such as carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids. Even the cell membranes are made of proteins. Carbon is also used to construct the energy-rich molecules adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and guanosine triphosphate (GTP). Hydrogen is used to construct the molecules water and organic compounds with carbon. Hydrogen is also used to construct ATP and GTP. Nitrogen is used to construct the basic building blocks of life, such as amino acids, nucleic acids, and proteins. It is also used to construct ATP and GTP. Oxygen is used to construct the basic building blocks of life, such as carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids. It is also used to construct ATP and GTP. Phosphorus is used to construct the basic building blocks of life, such as carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids.

Video Transcript

You have probably heard the word semi permeable before, especially if you're in biology, which sounds like you are because are plasmum membranes, which is the outer layer of all of our cells, is a semi permeable membrane, meaning that it lets some things in. But not everything- and this is largely because it has these phospholipid, which are these little guys that allow the membrane to bend, but it doesn't have lots of holes in it. So not many things can get through, except if there are things like these channel proteins that are that leave gaps that leave spaces where they can channel certain things into the cell. Now some of them are designed for tiny things like sodium atoms or chlorine, atoms or potassium those kind of things, but others will allow larger things like molecules to go in and out of the cell as needed it. Now, when you have these channel proteins, i want you to think of it sort of like a tunnel right. It has only so much space that it can allow objects to travel through, and so smaller things like water travel really easily because they are maybe only decimal, and so they can fit and they can go through without any issues so start here that small molecules travel. Pretty easily, but when you have larger molecules like say a sugar molecule, it becomes more difficult to travel through because some like a sugar molecule, might be too big to fit, and there are different sizes of molecules, and so some will be very small. Some will be kind of medium and still be able to go through, but the larger it is the less likely it is to be able to fit through these channel proteins, and that's part of how the cell maintains its solute concentration. It only has certain size, channel proteins which allow for easy diffusion for small things, but it keeps larger things out by not leaving enough room for them to move in and out. So i hope this explanation helps you to look with your science, guys.

Morgan Peralta11/19/2020Diffusion Across A Semipermeable MembraneIntroductionPurpose:The purpose of this lab was to explore how materials move across a semipermeablemembrane.Question:What is the effect of molecule size on a molecule’s ability to diffuse across a semipermeablemembrane?

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Variables:Independent Variable: Molecule sizeDependent Variable: The ability of the material to diffuseMaterials and ProceduresMaterials:DroppersStirring rodSeven test tubesTwo 500 mL beakersHot plateDistilled waterTwo lengths of dialysis tubing, each 15 cm longStringStarch solutionLugol’s solution (starch indicator)Glucose solutionBenedict’s solution (glucose indictor)Procedure:Step 1: Verify Lugol’s Solution as an Indicator for the Presence of Starcha)Label three test tubes “Water”, “Starch”, and “Glucose”. Add ten drops of water, ten drops ofglucose solution, and ten drops of starch solution respectively.b)Put ten drops of Lugol’s solution into each of the test tubes.c)Gently swirl the contents of all three test tubes.

How does molecular size affect diffusion through a semipermeable membrane?

Larger molecules diffuse through a cell membrane at a slower rate than do smaller ones.

How does a molecule size affect its ability to cross a cell membrane?

Small nonpolar molecules, such as O2 and CO2, are soluble in the lipid bilayer and therefore can readily cross cell membranes. Small uncharged polar molecules, such as H2O, also can diffuse through membranes, but larger uncharged polar molecules, such as glucose, cannot.

How does the size of the molecule affect diffusion?

The rate of diffusion is inversely proportional to the size of the molecules. This means that the smaller is the size of the molecule, the higher is the rate of diffusion.

What caused the smaller molecules to move across the semipermeable membrane?

Small molecules that are hydrophobic can be transported using diffusion, a process where molecules move from high concentration to low concentration. Water passes through the cell membrane using osmosis, a process where water moves from where there is more solute to less solute.