Final answer:
The process in which water moves through a semipermeable membrane from an area of lower solute concentration to an area of higher solote concentration is called osmosis. Option 2 is correct.
Step-by-step explanation:
The movement of water through a semipermeable membrane from a region of lower solute concentration to a region of higher solute concentration is called osmosis. This process is a type of diffusion specifically for water, where it moves across a membrane to balance out the water concentration relative to the solute concentration. When water moves in this way, it's often facilitated by proteins known as aquaporins, which are channels specifically designed to allow water to pass through cell membranes more easily.
Osmosis plays a critical role in biological systems, for instance, in the kidneys during the process of urine formation, or in plant root cells absorbing water from the soil. If we place a cell in a solution where the solute concentration outside the cell is higher than that inside, water will move out of the cell through osmosis, potentially leading to cell shrinkage (plasmolysis).