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Diffusion, Osmosis and Turgor Pressure Diffusion is the movement of particles from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration or down the concentration gradient. We saw this happen in class when the drop of red food colouring, put into a beaker of water, diffused throughout the water. Other examples of this would be the how the smell of burnt toast or Axe spreads throughout a house or the way a sugar cube dissolves in water. Diffusion occurs in a fluid system because the particles in a solution are always moving. A substance always moves from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration until the substance is equally distributed in the solution; equilibrium. When the solution has an equal concentration throughout, it is said to be completely diffused and at equilibrium. Osmosis is a special case of diffusion. It is that the movement of water molecules, from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration (or down the concentration gradient), through a selectively permeable membrane. The movement of water into and out of cells is vital to living things, and is driven by imbalances in concentrations. In a grocery store, the vegetables are sprayed with water because the air surrounding the vegetables has a low concentration of water. To reach a state of equilibrium, the water in the vegetables moves out of the cells making them limp. Spraying the vegetables keeps the concentration of water surrounding the vegetables high and prevents the loss of water, across the cell membrane, out of the plant by the process of osmosis. Turgor pressure is the pressure exerted by the contents of the cell against the cell wall. When a plant cell has a large amount of water in the cell, the turgor pressure is high. Plants like celery or lettuce are crisp when turgor pressure is high. When turgor pressure is low, cells have lost the water that made the contents of the cell push against the cell wall. This lack of pressure causes the tissues to become limp and the plant appears wilted. Below are diagrams of a plant cell with high turgor pressure and one with low turgor pressure. high turgor pressure low turgor pressure