BIOLOGY Volume 2 - A Guide to General Biology - 2004

13. TRANSPORT IN PLANTS

13.1. Plant Water Relations

13.1.4. Osmotic Potential (ψ0)

When a substance is dissolved in Water, the concentration of water molecules, and consequently The water potential, decreases. Thus, all solutions have a lower water potential than pure water. Quantitatively, this decrease is expressed as a value called osmotic potential (ψ0). In other words, osmotic potential is a measure of the reduction in a system's water potential resulting from the presence of non-water molecules. The osmotic potential of an aqueous solution is always negative. The greater the concentration of dissolved solute molecules, the lower (more negative) this potential becomes (see also Section 5.9.8).



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