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Quizzes > Science > Biology

Think You Can Master Cell Transport? Take the Quiz!

Ready for Passive & Active Transport Challenges? Start the Test!

Difficulty: Moderate
2-5mins
Learning OutcomesCheat Sheet
Paper art illustration of cell membranes transport and homeostasis on teal background for cell transport quiz

Ready to level up your biology skills? Our Free Cell Transport Quiz invites you to master membrane movement by testing your know-how in everything from diffusion to energy-dependent pumps. This cell transport quiz feature includes a targeted passive transport quiz segment, challenging active transport questions, and a focused cell membrane transport quiz to reinforce your expertise. You'll even tackle our homeostasis quiz scenarios to see how cells maintain balance. Explore detailed questions on cell membrane and jump into an interactive quiz on active and passive transport . Whether you're studying for exams or feeding your curiosity, dive in now and conquer cell transport!

What is the primary structural component of the cell membrane?
Phospholipids
Proteins
Carbohydrates
Nucleic acids
The cell membrane is largely composed of a bilayer of phospholipids, with hydrophilic heads facing outward and hydrophobic tails inward. Proteins and carbohydrates are embedded or attached but the lipid bilayer formed by phospholipids is the fundamental structure. This arrangement creates a semipermeable barrier.
Which process moves molecules against their concentration gradient?
Facilitated diffusion
Osmosis
Active transport
Passive diffusion
Active transport uses cellular energy, often ATP, to move substances from areas of lower concentration to higher concentration, against the gradient. Facilitated diffusion and passive diffusion move substances down their gradients without energy. Osmosis is specific to water movement.
Which term describes the movement of particles from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration?
Diffusion
Osmosis
Endocytosis
Exocytosis
Diffusion is the passive movement of particles down their concentration gradient due to random motion, until equilibrium is reached. Osmosis is diffusion of water specifically, while endocytosis and exocytosis involve vesicle-mediated transport.
Which process describes the movement of water across a semipermeable membrane?
Osmosis
Diffusion
Filtration
Active transport
Osmosis is the passive movement of water molecules across a semipermeable membrane from a region of lower solute concentration to higher solute concentration. It’s critical for cell volume regulation. Diffusion can refer to any molecule, not specifically water.
Which molecule is least likely to cross the lipid bilayer by simple diffusion?
Oxygen gas
Small nonpolar molecule
Ion or charged particle
Steroid hormone
The hydrophobic core of the lipid bilayer repels charged or polar substances, so ions or charged particles cannot diffuse freely. Small nonpolar molecules and gases can cross by simple diffusion. Charged ions require channels or transporters.
What type of passive transport requires a membrane protein channel?
Facilitated diffusion
Simple diffusion
Active transport
Exocytosis
Facilitated diffusion is a form of passive transport that uses specific transmembrane proteins—either channels or carriers—to move substances down their concentration gradient without using ATP. Simple diffusion does not require proteins.
What term refers to the maintenance of stable internal conditions in a cell?
Apoptosis
Homeostasis
Diffusion
Phagocytosis
Homeostasis is the regulatory process by which cells and organisms maintain stable internal conditions (like pH, temperature, and ion concentration) despite external changes. Transport mechanisms like diffusion and active transport play key roles in homeostasis.
Which of the following is an example of primary active transport?
Sodium-potassium pump
Glucose diffusion
Osmosis
Facilitated diffusion
The sodium-potassium pump (Na+/K+-ATPase) directly uses ATP hydrolysis to move 3 Na+ ions out of the cell and 2 K+ ions into the cell, making it a classic example of primary active transport. Other listed processes are passive.
Which factor does NOT affect the rate of diffusion across a membrane?
Molecular size
Temperature
Concentration gradient
Color
Diffusion rate is influenced by molecular size, temperature, and concentration gradient; smaller molecules and higher temperatures increase rate. Color is not a physical property that affects molecular movement.
In the sodium-potassium pump, for each ATP hydrolyzed, how many sodium ions are pumped out of the cell?
2
3
1
4
The Na+/K+ ATPase uses one ATP to export three sodium ions out of the cell while importing two potassium ions, helping maintain electrochemical gradients. This 3:2 exchange ratio is electrogenic.
What type of endocytosis is also known as cell drinking and involves uptake of extracellular fluid?
Phagocytosis
Pinocytosis
Receptor-mediated endocytosis
Transcytosis
Pinocytosis is the non-specific uptake of extracellular fluid in small vesicles, often called “cell drinking.” Phagocytosis is “cell eating” of larger particles. Receptor-mediated is specific.
When a human red blood cell is placed in a hypertonic solution, what happens to the cell?
It swells
It shrinks
No change
Cell lysis
In a hypertonic solution, water moves out of the cell by osmosis, causing the cell to shrink (crenate). In hypotonic solutions, cells swell or lyse. Isotonic conditions yield no net change.
Which transport mechanism moves glucose into cells down its concentration gradient without ATP?
Simple diffusion
Active transport
Facilitated diffusion
Endocytosis
Glucose uptake into many cells occurs via facilitated diffusion through GLUT transporters, moving glucose down its concentration gradient without direct ATP usage. Active transport would require energy input.
Secondary active transport uses energy stored in the gradient of which ion?
Calcium
Sodium
Chloride
Potassium
Secondary active transport couples the movement of a solute (often glucose or amino acids) to the downhill flow of Na+ down its gradient, which was established by the Na+/K+ ATPase. It does not directly consume ATP.
Aquaporins are specialized for which molecule?
Glucose
Water
Sodium
Oxygen
Aquaporins are integral membrane proteins forming channels that selectively facilitate rapid water transport across cell membranes while excluding ions and other solutes. They are critical in kidneys and plant roots.
Resting membrane potential in neurons is most influenced by which ion?
Sodium
Potassium
Calcium
Chloride
At rest, neuronal membranes are most permeable to K+ due to many open K+ leak channels, so the resting membrane potential approximates the Nernst potential for K+. Na+ and other ions have lesser effects.
Which describes an antiporter in membrane transport?
Moves both molecules in the same direction
Exchanges two molecules or ions in opposite directions
Moves only one molecule at a time
Transports molecules against their gradient without energy
An antiporter is a type of secondary active transporter that carries two substances in opposite directions across the membrane. The favorable movement of one drives the unfavorable movement of the other. Symporters move substances in the same direction.
What phenomenon explains the unequal distribution of impermeant ions across a membrane affecting other ion distributions?
Michaelis-Menten kinetics
Gibbs-Donnan equilibrium
Donnan osmosis
Henderson-Hasselbalch principle
The Gibbs-Donnan equilibrium describes how impermeant ions on one side of a membrane cause unequal distribution of permeant ions to satisfy both electroneutrality and osmotic balance. This can influence cell volume and potential.
The transport rate of a carrier-mediated facilitated diffusion exhibits which type of kinetics?
Linear kinetics
Exponential kinetics
Michaelis-Menten kinetics
Zero-order kinetics only
Carrier-mediated facilitated diffusion shows saturation behavior described by Michaelis-Menten kinetics: at low substrate concentrations rate increases linearly, but it plateaus at Vmax when carriers are saturated. Simple diffusion is linear.
Proton pumps in mitochondria contribute to ATP synthesis by creating what?
Chemical gradient only
Proton motive force
ATP substrate
Electrical insulation
Mitochondrial proton pumps (Complexes I, III, IV) move protons into the intermembrane space, generating an electrochemical gradient called the proton motive force, which drives ATP synthase. It consists of both pH and voltage components.
Which statement about endocytosis and exocytosis is correct?
Both are passive processes
Both require ATP
Only endocytosis requires ATP
Neither requires ATP
Endocytosis and exocytosis involve extensive membrane remodeling, vesicle formation, and motor proteins that consume ATP. Both processes are energy-dependent.
In plant cells, turgor pressure is generated by water moving into the central vacuole via what process?
Diffusion
Osmosis
Active transport
Facilitated diffusion
Water enters the plant cell vacuole by osmosis, moving from lower solute concentration in the cytosol into the more concentrated vacuole. This influx builds turgor pressure, which keeps cells rigid.
Electrogenic pumps are characterized by which property?
They move equal numbers of positive and negative charges
They generate a net charge difference across the membrane
They do not affect membrane potential
They only transport protons
Electrogenic pumps transport an unequal number of ions, creating net charge movement across the membrane and contributing directly to membrane potential. The Na+/K+ pump is a classic example.
Which best describes the mechanism of the Na+/glucose symporter?
It hydrolyzes ATP directly to import glucose
It uses the sodium gradient to transport glucose into the cell
It allows glucose to leak out of the cell
It pumps glucose out of the cell against its gradient
The Na+/glucose symporter is a secondary active transporter that harnesses the inward Na+ gradient (established by the Na+/K+ pump) to cotransport glucose into the cell without direct ATP hydrolysis.
The Nernst equation is used to calculate what parameter in membrane physiology?
Diffusion rate of ions
Osmotic pressure
Equilibrium potential for a specific ion
Gibbs free energy
The Nernst equation relates the concentration gradient of an ion to its equilibrium potential, the voltage at which there is no net flow of that ion across the membrane. This is fundamental in understanding resting and action potentials.
Lipid rafts are microdomains in the cell membrane enriched in cholesterol and sphingolipids; what is their primary role?
Generating ATP within the membrane
Organizing receptors and signaling proteins
Pumping ions across the bilayer
Synthesizing lipids de novo
Lipid rafts are specialized, ordered microdomains that serve as platforms to cluster receptors, channels, and signaling molecules, thereby modulating signal transduction and trafficking. They are not directly involved in ATP synthesis.
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Study Outcomes

  1. Distinguish Passive vs. Active Transport -

    Identify the key differences between passive and active transport processes and describe the energy requirements for each mechanism.

  2. Identify Membrane Transport Proteins -

    Recognize the roles of channel proteins, carrier proteins, and pumps in facilitating substance movement across the cell membrane.

  3. Apply Osmosis and Diffusion Principles -

    Use osmotic and diffusion concepts to predict the movement of water and solutes in hypotonic, hypertonic, and isotonic solutions.

  4. Analyze Homeostasis Regulation -

    Examine how cells maintain internal balance through various transport mechanisms in response to environmental changes.

  5. Evaluate Transport Scenarios -

    Assess different biological scenarios to determine which transport process - passive or active - is most appropriate for moving specific molecules.

  6. Interpret Instant Feedback for Learning -

    Leverage quiz feedback to identify knowledge gaps and reinforce understanding of membrane movement concepts.

Cheat Sheet

  1. Fluid Mosaic Model -

    The cell membrane is described by the fluid mosaic model, portraying phospholipids as a dynamic sea with proteins floating like icebergs, a concept reinforced in Campbell Biology (2020). Imagine a "fluid disco" where lipids move laterally, giving the membrane flexibility for transport events. Cholesterol buffers membrane fluidity, preventing rigidity in the cold and over-fluidity in the heat.

  2. Passive Diffusion & Fick's Law -

    Passive diffusion moves molecules down a concentration gradient without energy input, as outlined by Khan Academy. Fick's first law (J = - DĀ·AĀ·Ī”C/Ī”x) shows flux (J) depends on diffusion coefficient (D), area (A), concentration difference (Ī”C), and membrane thickness (Ī”x). Remember "High to Low" to recall that substances always drift toward lower concentrations.

  3. Osmosis & Tonicity -

    Osmosis is the diffusion of water across a semipermeable membrane, driven by solute concentration differences, per data from the Royal Society of Biology. In hypertonic solutions cells shrink, in hypotonic they swell, and in isotonic they remain stable - mnemonic "HOT" (Hyper: Out, Hypo: In, Iso: Same) helps you predict volume changes. This principle is critical for understanding intravenous therapy and plant turgor pressure.

  4. Facilitated Diffusion -

    Facilitated diffusion uses channel proteins and carriers to transport polar or charged molecules across the membrane without ATP, as detailed in Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry. For example, GLUT1 carriers speed glucose entry into red blood cells, and gated ion channels regulate nerve impulses. Think "doorway proteins" to reinforce that these pathways accelerate diffusion when needed.

  5. Active Transport & Pumps -

    Active transport consumes ATP to move substances against their concentration gradients, with the Naā¯ŗ/Kā¯ŗ-ATPase pump being the classic example (3 Naā¯ŗ out, 2 Kā¯ŗ in per ATP) from Physiology texts of Guyton & Hall. Secondary active transport (symporters and antiporters) then harnesses ion gradients to co-transport nutrients like glucose. Visualize ATP as "fuel" powering molecular pumps to maintain homeostasis.

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