When your liquid evaporates from the solution in e.g. your flask, the gas (steam in the case of water) needs to be converted to liquid again by cooling. The condenser, as I am sure you have observed consists of a central conduit surrounded by a wider tube around it (would appear as two concentric circles in cross-section); the water flows in the outer part i.e. between the outer wall of the inner conduit and the outer wider tube. The purpose of the condenser is to cool the (evaporated) gas and thus make it convert to liquid state again.
The reason the water flows in the direction it does is to create a counter-current type of system, so that there is throughout the length of the condenser a good temperature gradient between the evaporated gas and the cooling water, so exchange of heat (from gas to water) is efficient. It is slightly similar to the countercurrent mechanism of the loop of Henle in the nephron [here concentration gradient rather than temperature gradient though)
M
The reason the water flows in the direction it does is to create a counter-current type of system, so that there is throughout the length of the condenser a good temperature gradient between the evaporated gas and the cooling water, so exchange of heat (from gas to water) is efficient. It is slightly similar to the countercurrent mechanism of the loop of Henle in the nephron [here concentration gradient rather than temperature gradient though)
M
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