What is osmotic pressure ?
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Osmotic pressure is the hydrostatic pressure produced by a solution in a space divided by a differentially permeable membrane due to a differential in the concentrations of solute.\n\nOsmotic potential is the opposite of water potential with the former meaning the degree to which a solvent (usually water) would want to stay in a liquid.\n\nWhen a biological cell is in a hypotonic environment (the cell interior contains a lower concentration of water than its exterior), water flows across the cell membrane into the cell, causing it to expand due to osmotic pressure. In plant cells, the cell wall restricts the expansion, resulting in pressure on the cell wall from within called turgor pressure. The osmotic pressure π of a dilute solution can be calculated using the formula\n\n\nwhere\ni is the van 't Hoff factor\nM is the molarity\nR is the gas constant, where R = 0.08206 L atm/mol K\nT is the thermodynamic temperature (formerly called absolute temperature)\n\nNote the similarity of the above formula to the ideal gas law and also that osmotic pressure is not dependent on particle charge.\n\n[edit]\nApplications\n\nOsmotic pressure is the basis of reverse osmosis, a process commonly used to purify water. The water to be purified is placed in a chamber and put under an amount of pressure greater than the osmotic pressure exerted by the water and the solutes dissolved in it. Part of the chamber opens to a differentially permeable membrane that lets water molecules through, but not the solute particles. The osmotic pressure of ocean water is about 27 atm. Reverse osmosis desalinators use pressures around 50 atm to produce fresh water from ocean salt water.\n\nOsmotic pressure is necessary for most plants. It is the resulting turgor pressure on the cell wall that allows herbaceous plants to stand upright, and how plants regulate the aperture of their stomata. In animal cells which lack a cell wall however, excessive osmotic pressure can result in cytolysis.
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It will shrivel up, as osmosis causes water to leave the cell.  Remember, hypertonic means there are more solutes in the solution than in cytoplasm.  Think of osmosis as trying to "balance" the concentration of solutes inside and outside the cell.  If it can't bring solutes into the cell, it's going to bring water out of the cell.
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Osmotic pressure refers specifically to the difference in the concentration of elements between two solutions.  If you place a semipermeable barrier between the two solutions, water will flow across that barrier until the concentrations are equal.\n\nIn this way, when you put a freshwater plant into salt water, the fresh water flows out from the plant through the cell membranes, which are semipermeable to water but not salt.\n\nThis osmotic pressure is actually how your kidneys work, to filter fresh water from the fluid you drink and leave a more concentrated solution behind.  See the links below for more details.
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A hypotonic solution is a solution that has less solute concentration that the eukaryotic cell. Which means it has more water and that the cell is more concentrated. Therefore, following the concentration gradient, water will go into the cell and if too much of that happens, the cell will burst.
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on drinking lot of water the osmotic pressure of blood falls and excess water is then absorbed by the nephron of the kidney and excreated out to maintain the osmocity of blood
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Water pressure is the force exerted by water on its surroundings.\n\nOne example is diving under water. At the surface, the air pressure is one atmosphere (atmosphere is a unit of pressure). If you dive 33 feet down, then the pressure is 2 atmospheres. 66 feet is 3 atmospheres, etc. This means, under 33 feet of water, the force exerted on you by the water is double the pressure of air at the surface (which you don't notice because you're used to it ... you only notice when it changes, such as when you go in an airplane and your ears pop).\n\nAnother example is in pipes. Water is pressurized so that it will flow out of your faucet when you open the tap. The air pressure at your sink is one atmosphere. As long as the water in the pipes is pressurized more than one atmosphere, water will flow when you open the tap.
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Osmosis will make water swell into the cell until the concentration of minerals inside and outside the cell becomes equal.  In distilled water, this means the cell will need to import an infinite amount of water, and the result will be that the cell will swell up and rupture.
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Cell membranes are permeable to water but not to most solutes. When the external solute concentration is greater (or smaller) than the internal water tends to move out of (or into) the cell. This may change the size of the cell. However, if there is a cell wall, as in most bacteria, this prevents cell expansion in medium of lower OP, and the pressure exerted against the wall (the turgor pressure) may change instead. In medium of higher OP the cytoplasm will lose water and shrink away from the cell wall. Cells try to adapt to changes in the external solute concentration by adjusting their internal solute levels to balance the outside. However cells need 100-150mM K+ and about the same concentration of metabolic intermediates so cannot reduce their internal solute levels below a minimum of approx 250milli-osmolar. Conversely, increasing the internal salt concentration too far results in the inhibition of many enzymes. The secret to adapting to high OP is the use of "compatible solutes". These are certain solutes which, even in high concentrations do not inhibit enzyme function. The most common are: glutamate, proline, trehalose and glycine betaine.
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Osmosis is the passage of water from a region of high water concentration through a semi-permeable membrane to a region of low water concentration...
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First of all, osmosis is the movement of WATER ONLY!  Diffusion is the movement of any other substance.  If there are two solutions separated by a semi-permeable membrane, then water from the side of lower solute concentration will move to the side of higher solute concentration.  The walls of a capillary are a semi-permeable membranes, so the same thing will happen in a capillary
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osmosis deals with the transfer of liquids (water) through a membrane.  say you have salt water in a tube with half the water separated by a osmotic membrane.  in an osmoticaly balanced state, the salinity is the same on both sides.  any solution will want to be at this balanced state.  if the salt concentration was higher on one side than the other, water would flow from the low to high concentration untill both salinities were equal
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The pressure that the substance is under. At room temperature for example, water can be ice, liquid, or steam, depending on the pressure of the room or container.
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osmosis can occur in the small intestine where water is secreated and absorbed, while diffusion occurs in the lungs where oxygen is diffused into the blood stream and carbon dioxide is excreated from the blood stream to the atmosphere
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Osmosis is a type of diffusion that relates directly to water passing the cell membrane. Diffusion is particle movement down the concentration gradient or to an area of less concentration of any substance
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Your cells are always in an isotonic solution which means the solute level (salt and other material) and the water level is about the same. Salt water is a hypertonic solution because the levels of solute outnumber the water. When you drink salt water it causes the water in your cells to leave the try to reach equilibrium. This causes them to shrink and ultimatily make the organism die.
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Osmosis is the movement of water across a barrier.  Diffusion is the movement of other molecules, not necessarily across a barrier. Check out - \nhttp://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/feb2000/951455351.Cb.r.html for a more detailed answer on what diffusion is compared to osmosis.
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Pascal's principle : Pressure applied to an enclosed fluid is transmitted undiminished to every part of the fluid, as well as to the walls of the container.  \nAn example: hydraulic lift.