Article Outline Experiment. The process is essential for the survival of living things. For example, plants absorb most of their water by osmosis. In animals, osmosis helps regulate the flow of water and nutrients between body fluids and cells.
Industries reverse osmosis for such purposes as water purification and food preservation.
A liquid solution consists of a dissolved substance called a solute, and a liquid called a solvent. During osmosis, some of the solvent from one solution moves through microscopic holes in a membrane into another solution. The solute molecules are larger than the holes in the membrane. In osmosis, more solvent moves into the solution with the greater concentration of solute molecules. This occurs mostly because, in the weaker solution, there are fewer solute molecules blocking the movement of the solvent.