Final answer:
Osmosis leads to water moving into a hypotonic cell, causing it to become turgid, which can result in bursting if the cell lacks a rigid cell wall, like animal cells do.
Step-by-step explanation:
Because cells are hypotonic in relation to fresh water, osmosis produces a net movement of water into the cell. If that happens, the cell will become turgid and can even burst. Osmosis is the process where water moves from an area of lower solute concentration to an area of higher solute concentration across a semipermeable membrane. In freshwater, the concentration of solutes is lower outside the cell than inside, causing water to enter the cell. Animal cells, like red blood cells, may burst when they become too turgid due to the lack of a rigid cell wall to counter the osmotic pressure, a process known as lysis or cytolysis. On the other hand, plant cells have a cell wall that provides structural support and prevents them from bursting, although they do become turgid, which typically is a healthy state for plant cells.