Question

Why does glycerol diffuse across the cell membrane faster than glucose?

Answer 1

glycerol is lipid soluble so it diffuses by simple diffusion directly through the cell membrane while glucose is a polar molecule so it diffuses via facilitated diffusion which means it needs a channel protein to work and this means the surface area for the glucose to get in is less than the one for the glycerol. he glycerol has the whole cell membrane to pass through, while glucose has only the channel proteins which do no cover the whole membrane.