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Why does creating a hypertonic environment make Herbodiare an effective herbicide?

a) The plant cells will swell up due to osmosis, and the cells will burst apart resulting in cell death.

b) The plant cells will shrivel due to water leaving the cell, causing cells to collapse and die.

c) The plant cell membrane will lose sodium transport proteins, clogging up the cell wall's pores.

d) The salt ions will die, preventing sunlight from entering the plant chloroplast and the plant.

User Mattoc
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

Herbodiare is effective because it causes a hypertonic environment, where water leaves the plant cells, causing them to shrivel, collapse, and die, known as plasmolysis.Option B is the correct answer.

Step-by-step explanation:

Creating a hypertonic environment makes Herbodiare an effective herbicide because of osmotic effects on plant cells. When plant cells are exposed to a hypertonic solution—meaning the concentration of solutes outside the cell is higher than inside—the water within the cells tends to move out to the environment to balance solute concentrations. This causes the plant cells to shrivel due to water leaving the cell, leading the cells to collapse and die, a process known as plasmolysis. Instead of the cell swelling, as it would in a hypotonic solution, the plant's plasma membrane detaches from the cell wall and the cell becomes flaccid, causing plants to lose turgor pressure and wilt.

Thus, the correct answer is:
b) The plant cells will shrivel due to water leaving the cell, causing cells to collapse and die.

Creating a hypertonic environment with Herbodiare as an herbicide exploits osmotic effects on plant cells. The higher solute concentration outside the cell prompts water to exit, inducing plasmolysis. This process, distinct from cell swelling in hypotonic conditions, results in cell collapse and death. The plasma membrane detaches from the cell wall, causing the cell to become flaccid, leading to a loss of turgor pressure and wilting. The herbicide's hypertonic impact capitalizes on these osmotic dynamics, providing an effective mechanism to disrupt plant cell integrity and facilitate the demise of targeted plant organisms.

User George Borunov
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