Question

A cell with 1% solute concentration is placed in a beaker with a 5% solute concentration. What will happen to this cell over time?

Question 2 options:

The cell will gain H2O and expand.


The cell will lose H2O and shrink.


The cell will undergo no exchange of H2O with its surroundings.


The cell will both gain and lose equal amounts of H2O; thus it will remain the same size.

Answer 1

It will loose H2O. Think of it this way: the first cell with the 1% has 99 water molecules, but the second has only 95. Thus, it will give over 2 so that they both have 97.

Answer 2

The correct answer would be The cell will lose H₂O and shrink.

The water will move out of the cell by the process of osmosis when it is placed in the hypertonic solution.

Osmosis the process by which water moves from the region of low concentration of solute to the region of high concentration of solute.

In the given situation, the solute concentration of the solution in the beaker is higher as compared to that of the cell.

So, it will have more solute and less water potential as compared to those of the cell.

Hence, the water will move out of the cell which causes the cell to shrink.