2016/05/10 by Peter Hugo Nelson
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.soft #physics.bio-ph #physics.chem-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s00249-016-1137-y
published as Eur. Biophys. J. 46 (2017) 59-64 · 12 pages, 6 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1409.3985
arxiv created 2016/05/10 · arxiv updated 2021/12/14
A solute-blocking model is presented that provides a kinetic explanation of osmosis and ideal solution thermodynamics. It validates a diffusive model of osmosis that is distinct from the traditional convective flow model of osmosis. Osmotic equilibrium occurs when the fraction of water molecules in solution matches the fraction of pure water molecules that have enough energy to overcome the pressure difference. Solute-blocking also provides a kinetic explanation for why Raoult's law and the other colligative properties depend on the mole fraction (but not the size) of the solute particles, resulting in a novel kinetic explanation for the entropy of mixing and chemical potential of ideal solutions. Some of its novel predictions have been confirmed, others can be tested experimentally or by simulation.