Osmosis is the thermodynamically driven net movement of a solvent, typically water, across a selectively permeable membrane from a region of lower solute activity to higher solute activity, aiming to equalize the chemical potential of the solvent on both sides. It is governed by osmotic pressure, which can be described for ideal dilute solutions by the van ’t Hoff equation (π = iCRT), and is fundamentally a colligative phenomenon dependent on solute particle concentration rather than identity. Osmosis underlies many biophysical processes, including cell volume regulation, turgor generation in plants, and membrane transport in physiology and biotechnology.
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