Certified Clinical Hemodialysis Technician (CCHT) Practice Exam

The term that describes the movement of water from an area of low solute concentration to an area of high solute concentration is osmosis. Osmosis is a specific type of passive transport that involves the solvent, usually water, moving through a selectively permeable membrane. This process occurs to equalize solute concentrations on either side of the membrane, ensuring that there is an even distribution of solutes in a solution. In the context of the question, when water moves across a membrane, it travels toward the area where there are more solutes, effectively diluting that area and making the concentration of solutes more balanced. This is a fundamental concept in many biological systems, including renal function and hemodialysis, where the movement of water is critical for maintaining proper fluid balance. In contrast, diffusion refers to the movement of particles from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration, which is not exclusively water and does not involve a membrane in this specific context. Filtration involves the movement of fluids and solutes under pressure through a filter, and active transport requires energy to move substances against their concentration gradient, which does not describe passive water movement. Thus, osmosis is the correct term for this specific process involving water movement.