Question

Animal cells are permeable to water and urea but NOT to sucrose. The inside of a cell contains 1 M sucrose and 1 M urea and the outside 1 M sucrose and 2 M urea. After the system reaches equilibrium, what changes are observed?

Answer 1

The water will move out of the animal cell and the cell will shrink

Step-by-step explanation:

In the given question, since it is mentioned that the amount of solute concentration inside the cell is less than the outside as the Urea is lower inside the cell but is higher outside the cell.

Since the urea concentrations present in a higher amount outside the cell, therefore, the solution will become hypertonic.

The higher amount of solute means that the water is present in a low amount and a concentration gradient is established. Thus to reach the equilibrium the water will move out from the higher concentration to lower amount through osmosis. It means the water will move from the inside of the cell to the outer side and the cell, as a result, will shrink.

Thus, water will move out of the animal cell and the cell will shrink is the correct answer.