Question

Do the observations of H+, glucose and cortisol support the hypothesis?

Answer 1

Based on the nature of the cell membrane, the movement of molecules across the cell membranes depends on the concentration, charge and size of the molecules.

Does the size of the substance affect its ability to diffuse across cell membranes?

The ability of a molecule to diffuse across cell membranes depends on the following:

• concentration: highly concentrated molecules diffuse across cell membranes easily
• charge: charged molecules do not diffuse easily across cell membranes because of the hydrophobic tails of the lipid bilayer
• size: small molecules diffuse easily across cell membranes.

Though H+ is a small molecule, the charge on H+ prevents it from easily passing through the cell membrane.

Glucose molecules though large, pass through specialized channels in facilitated diffusion down their concentration gradient into the cell. Glucose molecules use ATP for active transport out of the cell.

Cortisol is a large steroid hormone which passes through the lipid bilayer by simple diffusion because of its hydrophobic nature down its concentration gradient.

Therefore, the movement of molecules across the cell membranes depends on the concentration, charge and size of the molecules.

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