Answer:
Explanation:
Have you been through airport security lately? If you have, you’ve probably noticed that it’s carefully designed to let some things in (such as passengers with tickets) and to keep others out (such as weapons, explosives, and bottled water).
In many ways, airport security is a lot like the plasma membrane of a cell. Cell membranes are selectively permeable, regulating which substances can pass through, as well as how much of each substance can enter or exit at a given time. Selective permeability is essential to cells’ ability to obtain nutrients, eliminate wastes, and maintain a stable interior environment different than that of the surroundings (maintain homeostasis).
In the process of diffusion, a substance tends to move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration until its concentration becomes equal throughout a space. For example, think about someone opening a bottle of cleaning ammonia in the middle of a room. The ammonia molecules will initially be most concentrated right where the person opened the bottle, with few or no molecules at the edges of the room. Gradually, the ammonia molecules will diffuse, or spread, away from the place where they were released, and eventually you’ll be able to smell ammonia at the edges of the room. Ultimately, if the bottle is capped and the room is closed, the ammonia molecules will become evenly distributed throughout its volume.
