Final answer:
Red blood cells do not have a higher concentration of water molecules than distilled water; it is the concentration of solutes that is higher inside the red blood cells. Placing red blood cells in distilled water can lead to hemolysis due to water rushing into the cells, while a hypertonic solution can cause them to create. The answer is b. No.
Step-by-step explanation:
Do red blood cells have a higher concentration of water molecules than distilled water? The answer is b. No. Red blood cells do contain water, with blood being about 92 percent water, however, the concept in question relates to osmolarity— the concentration of solutes in a solution.
Distilled water has an extremely low concentration of solutes compared to the cytosol of red blood cells. Therefore, when red blood cells are placed in distilled water, osmosis occurs where water rushes into the red blood cells due to the higher solute concentration inside them relative to the distilled water.
This leads to a condition called hemolysis, where the red blood cells can swell and eventually burst because their membrane has a fixed surface area and cannot contain the excess water. Conversely, in a hypertonic solution, water leaves the cell, causing it to shrink or create, which also impairs its function.
Red blood cells function optimally in an isotonic solution, where the solute concentration inside the cells and in the surrounding environment is the same, and there is no net movement of water into or out of the cells. The answer is b. No.