Plasma membrane
The cell membrane is a semipermeable biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of a cell from the outside environment.
At a glance
Key signals
25% cross fields · reaches 8 more
- Biology
- Cell Biology
- Explanation
- Examples
- Misconception
- Sourced relations 4
- Attribution
Dependencies
What this concept builds on and what it makes possible — derived from the atlas’s dependency, causal and structural relations, not from every related edge.
Enables · leads to
Plasma membraneenablesDiffusionEstablished
plasma membrane enables Diffusion.
Mechanism: The cell membrane controls which molecules diffuse in and out, keeping the inside distinct from the outside.
- Biology 2e (OpenStax) (2018) verified
System context
Plasma membraneis part ofCellEstablished
plasma membrane is part of cell.
Mechanism: The plasma membrane is the cell's boundary: a thin oily film that holds the cell together and controls what enters and leaves.
- Biology 2e (OpenStax) (2018) verified
Active transportis part ofPlasma membraneEstablished
active transport is part of plasma membrane.
Mechanism: Active transport is a job of the plasma membrane: protein pumps spend energy to move substances against their concentration gradient.
- Biology 2e (OpenStax) (2018) verified
Lipidis part ofPlasma membraneEstablished
lipid is part of plasma membrane.
Mechanism: A double layer of lipids forms the cell membrane, with water-fearing tails tucked inside.
- Biology 2e (OpenStax) (2018) verified
Structural role & consequence
Interpreted from the current atlas graph — what the connections mean, not just how many there are.
25% of its relationships cross field boundaries, reaching 8 other disciplines — unusual in a discipline where most concepts stay within their field.
structural · Structural graph analysis — not a claim of importance, causation or history.
Directly enables 1 concept; following enables/causes relations, 1 concept is downstream across 7 disciplines.
structural · Follows only enables/causes dependency edges — not general relatedness.
Currently dark in the atlas: no key date stored · 4 of 4 of its relations lack claim-level evidence.
atlas representation · Describes the current Thinking OS representation, not the state of the world.
Structural neighbourhood: 4 → 40 → 101 concepts reachable within 3 hops.
structural · Structural reach — being reachable is not the same as being understood.
cross-field
3 within-field, 1 cross-field
Strengths & constraints
Constraints
- Evidence coverage currently thin in the atlas — few of its relationships carry claim-level evidence. atlas representation
- No dated history stored — the atlas records no key date for this concept. atlas representation
Conditions
- Read structurally — most of its relationships carry no external evidence yet, so claims here are graph-derived. structural
Dependency radial
What this concept builds on (left) and what it makes possible (right) — derived from dependency and causal relations.
Seen through each discipline
How this concept sits in each of its fields — derived from its real connections in the graph, not asserted.
Through this lens it connects to Cell, Active transport and Lipid.
Through this lens it connects to Cell and Active transport.
Related ideas to explore
Concepts that look related but are not yet connected here — candidates for a connection to reason about, not established links.
This idea also appears in…
The same structure shows up in other disciplines. These are real recurrences drawn from the graph — a starting point for asking “what carries over, and what changes?”
Modularity7 disciplines · 10 concepts
Concepts
crosses a discipline boundary
shares a mental model
shares a mental model
shares a mental model
shares a mental model
shares a mental model
Mental models at work here
- Connects 4 other ideas across 2 disciplines.
- A cross-disciplinary bridge — its connections reach into 8 other fields.
- Most of its connections are of the “Kind & structure” kind.
- It exercises 1 reusable thinking pattern.
Derived from the graph’s real structure — observations, not a score.
Sources
- Wikipedia (English & German editions) verifiedmoderate evidence
- Wikidata verifiedmoderate evidence
- Biology 2e (OpenStax) (2018) verified