Osmosis and intermolecular force.

A hypothesis concerning the molecular-dynamical basis of osmosis is presented. According to this hypothesis, osmosis results from the attractive force between solute and water molecules, and the exclusion of the solute from the water transport channels of the membrane. Based on this hypothesis, the osmotic process is predicted to involve a large number of short "spurts" of high magnitude force, with a spurt force per unit area of channel of RT/Vs, where R is the gas constant, T is absolute temperature, and Vs is solute molar volume.