The spontaneous flow of the solvent through a semipermeable membrane from a pure solvent to a solution or from a dilute solution to a concentrated solution is called osmosis. The phenomenon of osmosis can be demonstrated by taking two eggs of the same size. In an egg, the membrane below the shell and around the egg material is semipermeable. The outer hard shell can be removed by putting the egg in dilute hydrochloric acid. After removing the hard shell, one egg is placed in distilled water and the other in a saturated salt solution. After some time, the egg placed in distilled water swells up while the egg placed in salt solution shrinks. The external pressure applied to stop the osmosis is termed as osmotic pressure (a colligative property). Reverse osmosis takes place when the applied external pressure becomes larger than the osmotic pressure.