Question

Before a snowstorm, most cities will place salt on the roads to lower the freezing point of water and to prevent dangerous ice patches on the roads. While this is a great idea for safety, it may have some effects to the plant life around the road due to the process of osmosis.

OSMOSIS IN A PLANT CELL: Equal solute concentration inside and outside the cell, Higher concentration inside the cell, and Higher solute concentration outside the cell.


Write a scientific explanation describing what happens in the cells of the plants that are next to a salted road.

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

Water tends to move in nature. This movement is facilitated by an osmotic gradient created as a result of OSMOSIS. Osmosis is the movement of water from a region of low solute concentration (high solvent concentration) to a region of high solute concentration (low solute concentration) through a semi-permeable membrane.

Salt contributes to the tonicity of the soil it was sprinkled in the sense that it makes the solute concentration of the soil higher (hypertonic) than that of the plant cell (hypotonic). This creates an osmotic gradient causing the movement of water from the plant cell into the road containing salt in order to form an osmotic balance. The water passes through the cell membrane of the plant cell which acts as the semi-permeable membrane in this case.

The movement of water out of the cell will eventually make the plant cells around that road area shrink (reduce) and likely die, due to loss of water content.