Figure 19.3.

Osmosis and osmotic pressure. Water is placed in a U-shaped tube where each of the tube arms is separated by a semipermeable membrane with pores of a size that water can easily pass through but a solute cannot. Upon addition of the solute to the tube's right arm, water diffuses from left to right (high water potential to low). The column of water in the tube's right arm (the one containing the solute) rises until the extra weight of the column equals the osmotic pressure caused by the solute. A pump could then be used to counter the osmotic pressure whereupon the solution columns in the right and left arms of the tube are made the same. The pump pressure required to equalize the height of the two columns is the osmotic pressure [4]. Note a small amount of the solute leaks from right to left since no filter is perfect.