‹ Biology simulationsBiology · IGCSE 0610 · 3 Movement into and out of cellsSeven 3D simulations covering Topic 3: diffusion (3.1), osmosis (3.2) and active transport (3.3). Watch particles move at random, investigate what speeds diffusion up, set up the dialysis tubing experiment, soak potato cylinders, shrink and swell cells, and power carrier proteins with respiration. The tab marked Extended is for the Supplement.
Particles of a liquid or gas move about at random all the time, using their own kinetic energy. Release a drop of dye into water and watch it spread. There is a net movement from where the particles are more concentrated to where they are less concentrated, down the concentration gradient, until they are evenly spread.
An investigation. Particles diffuse from the left chamber, through an opening in a wall, into the right chamber. Change one factor at a time: the surface area of the opening, the temperature, the concentration gradient or the distance through the wall. Record the rate each time and compare.
| area | °C | particles | distance | rate / s |
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Living things rely on diffusion to move gases and dissolved substances into and out of cells. In each example the gradient is kept up: one side keeps supplying the substance and the other keeps using it or carrying it away. Turn that off and see what happens.
Dialysis (Visking) tubing is a partially permeable membrane: small water molecules pass through its tiny holes but larger sucrose molecules cannot. Set up the experiment and watch the liquid in the capillary tube. Then zoom in to the molecules to see why it moves.
Put cylinders of potato into water and into sucrose solutions of different concentrations. Their cells take in or lose water by osmosis, so the cylinders change in mass, length and firmness. Plants depend on the same effect to stay upright: water inside the cells presses outwards on the cell walls.
Osmosis is the net movement of water from a region of higher water potential (a dilute solution) to a region of lower water potential (a concentrated solution) through a partially permeable membrane. Change the solution around a plant cell and a red blood cell and compare what happens to each.
Root hair cells need mineral ions such as nitrate, but there are usually more of these ions inside the cell than in the soil water. Diffusion would carry them the wrong way, so protein carriers in the membrane pump them in, against the concentration gradient, using energy from respiration.
Seven interactive 3D simulations for Cambridge IGCSE Biology 0610 topic 3 Movement into and out of cells: dye diffusing through water, an investigation of surface area, temperature, concentration gradient and distance, diffusion in alveoli, leaves and respiring cells, osmosis with dialysis tubing and a molecule view, potato cylinders in sucrose solutions and a wilting plant, turgid, flaccid and plasmolysed plant cells beside a red blood cell, and active transport of ions into a root hair cell.
Seven 3D simulations covering Topic 3: diffusion (3.1), osmosis (3.2) and active transport (3.3). Watch particles move at random, investigate what speeds diffusion up, set up the dialysis tubing experiment, soak potato cylinders, shrink and swell cells, and power carrier proteins with respiration. The tab marked Extended is for the Supplement.
Movement into and out of cells is a free, browser-based simulation for Cambridge IGCSE Biology 0610 (topic 3 Movement into and out of cells). The course is assessed in Paper 1/2 (Multiple choice), Paper 3/4 (Theory), Paper 5 (Practical Test), Paper 6 (Alternative to Practical). Syllabus for examination in 2026-2028. There are 7 tabs, each a self-contained experiment with its own controls and live readings, and nothing to install: it runs on a laptop, tablet or classroom projector.
Full syllabus map: IGCSE Biology 0610 topic 3.
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