American journal of physics
By Kramer, Eric M. and R. Myers,David
“Five popular misconceptions about osmosis”
Publisher: American Association of Physics Teachers
80

2012
Five popular misconceptions about osmosis
Type: Empirical
Data collection method:
Number of subjects, range: Other or unknown
Grade and age of subjects: Adult — over 18 years

  • The phenomenology of osmosis is the same for gases, liquids, and supercritical fluids.
  • Osmosis does not depend on an attractive force between solute and solvent. 
  • Osmosis can drive solvent from a lower to a higher solvent concentration compartment.
  • The osmotic pressure cannot be interpreted as the partial pressure of the solute. 
  • The semipermeable membrane exerts the force that drives the solvent flow.