any doctors out there? a question

[Benbow]

Re: osmosis

Thankyou!

I was beginning to doubt my sanity. It's scary how much misinformation is circulating.


Interesting & slightly related snippet: Osmosis also explains why you drown much more easily in fresh water (apart from the fact that you are less buoyant, and all other things being equal). If you get a lump of seawater into your lungs, not much happens in the short term; there is some water loss from your blood into the seawater and you loose some lung volume. But if you get a lump of fresh water into your lungs, it instantly rushes across into your blood causing a rapid increase in blood volume, killing you with heart failure and haemolysis.

 

[robind]

Re: osmosis

QED
Thanks for that
Rob

 

[Lakesailor]

Re: osmosis

I agree with benbow on this
Osmosis : Diffusion of fluid through a semipermeable membrane from a solution with a low solute concentration to a solution with a higher solute concentration until there is an equal concentration of fluid on both sides of the membrane.

That is to say if the saline content of the seawater is higher than that of the gut the water will pass into the rectum, leaving a higher concentration in the body.
That is not the same as salt passing into the body, which is nothing to do with osmosis.