And Cue The Awesome Music...

      DU DU DU DUUUUUUU! Oh hey guys! I was just singing the end music for the trailer to this new movie called The Hunger Games. It's awesome and so are the books! I highly recommend it! So aside from awesome stuff, let's go to boring stuff. Just kidding! This stuff is cool too! Okay so today we are going to talk about moving cellular material. How do materials enter and leave a cell? 




       If you want to get into the cell, you're going to have to get past the cell membrane. There are two ways to do that. And those are passive and active transport. Passive transport is when stuff moves into the cell without using any energy. It just happens naturally. There are three different kinds of passive transport, and they are diffusion, facilitated diffusion, and osmosis. Diffusion is when molecules from a high concentrated area move to a low concentrated area. 




       Some molecules can't get through the cell membrane without a little help. Facilitated diffusion is when the molecule can't get through the cell membrane by itself, so it gets a little help. They go through these things called protein channels and that facilitates (helps) the molecule get through! And now you know how facilitated diffusion got it's name! 




     The last one is osmosis. Isn't that an awesome word? Anyway, osmosis is basically the same thing as diffusion except it deals with only water molecules. So this is the special one. Two important words to remember about osmosis is hypertonic and hypotonic. Hypertonic is when the solution has a higher concentration of solutes. Hypotonic is when the solution has a lower concetration of solutes. 




     Now it's time to talk about active transport!! When cells need to move materials in the opposite direction, against a concentration gradient, it needs energy. Pumps or protein are in the cell membrane and it helps the molecules get across. 







    Two words you want to remember is endocytosis and exocytosis. Now those are some cool words! That's what I love about science. It has such cool words and when you say them, they make you sound all smart. Anyways, endocytosis is when the cell takes in large particles by engulfing them. I don't know why, but englufing reminds me of someone eating a golf ball... weird. Anyways, exocytosis is the exact opposite. It's when the cell get's rid of the particles. 




     Here are some cool links! Click here to learn about passive transport. Click here to learn about active transport. Click here to learn about diffusion and osmosis.
    Well that's pretty much it! So out of this blog you got some new information about cells, and you got to learn some new words! Your welcome. Alright then bye! Science Fun:)