Explain the difference between osmosis and dialysis . In osmosis, only the solvent passed through the membrane. In dialysis, both the solvent and small solute particles pass through the membrane. To allow this to happen, the pores of a dialyzing membrane have to be larger than the pores of an osmosis membrane. Hemodialysis is the process that artificial kidneys use to cleanse blood.
Blood is circulated inside a tube-shaped dialyzing membrane.
Hemodialysis is very important for people with nonfunctioning kidneys. If nitrogen waste products such as urea are not removed from the blood the results are fatal. It would shrivel, a process known as crenation . There would be no net flow of water either into or out of the cell, so the size would not change. A high percentage of the solute forms ions in solution.