Question

You put a salad (lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and carrots from lunch in the refrigerator after dressing it with salad dressing. When you pull it out at dinner there is excess liquid at the bottom of the container and the vegetables look slightly wilted (shriveled). Where did the liquid come from and why?

a. The liquid was because the salad dressing was in a hypertonic environment so it doubled in volume.

b. The liquid came from the salad because the solute concentration of the dressing was higher than the salad so water left the vegetables.

c. The liquid was only from the condensation that built up when you put a room temperature salad into the fridge.

d. The liquid came from the salad because there was higher solute concentration inside the vegetables than the salad dressing, therefore the solute

Answer 1

The wilted appearance and excess liquid in the salad container is due to osmosis, where water moves from the vegetable cells into the hypertonic salad dressing. Thus, the option "b" is the correct answer.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a dressed salad appears wilted with excess liquid at the bottom after refrigeration, it’s a result of a process called osmosis. The dressing on the salad typically has a higher concentration of solutes (like salts or sugars) compared to the inside of the vegetables. This creates a hypertonic environment for the vegetables, leading to the movement of water from an area of lower solute concentration (inside the vegetable cells) to an area of higher solute concentration (the dressing). As water leaves the vegetables, they become wilted, and this water then accumulates at the bottom of the container.

The correct answer to the question is: b. The liquid came from the salad because the solute concentration of the dressing was higher than the salad so water left the vegetables.