Abstract
The classical thermodynamic treatment of osmotic pressure is quite sufficient to compute most quantities of interest without reference to any molecular model (see, for example, Finkelstein, 1987). However, one’s intuition is always aided by molecular models, and a microscopic picture can be quite useful when thinking about osmotic flow in unfamiliar situations. Therefore, we offer here a surprisingly simple and intuitive molecular model for describing solvent flow driven by osmotically generated pressure gradients. We will show that osmotic pressure arises from the external force on solute particles which is transmitted to the solute by viscous drag. This simple picture enables us to propose a simulation method that can be used to compute the osmotic flows associated with quite complex situations arising in polymer and gel swelling.
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© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Oster, G., Peskin, C.S. (1992). Dynamics of osmotic fluid flow. In: Karalis, T.K. (eds) Mechanics of Swelling. NATO ASI Series, vol 64. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84619-9_44
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84619-9_44
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-84621-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-84619-9
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