Question

The salt concentration inside an animal cell is 1.8%. The salt concentration in the surrounding medium becomes 5%. What will happen next?

a) The cell will gain water from the medium.
b) The cell will lose salt to the medium.
c) The cell will remain unchanged.
d) The cell will shrink from loss of water.

Answer 1

The correct answer is the option: d) The cell will shrink from loss of water.

Step-by-step explanation:

Hello! Let's solve this!

The concentration of salt within an animal cell is 1.8%. The concentration of salt in the surrounding medium becomes 5%. This means that the salt in the medium is greater than the salt inside the cell. So, to achieve a balance, the medium will require more water.

What will happen is that the cell will shrink due to the loss of water.

We conclude that the correct answer is the option: d) The cell will shrink from loss of water.

Answer 2

Answer is "D - The cell will shrink from loss of water".

The salt concentration in the cell is 1.8% while it is 5% in the surrounding. Hence, salt concentration is high in surrounding and low in cell. So, there is a concentration gradient. Water will flow to the surroundings from the cell because the water concentration in the cell is high. This will cause the cell shrinking.