Question

A dehydrated person enters the hospital. The traditional procedure to treat a dehydrated patient is to add saline (salt) solution to their blood. Saline solution is a mixture of salt (solute) and water. However, the nurse accidentally gives the patient distilled (pure) water. What will happen to the person's cells?

Answer 1

The cells will taking-in water and hemolyse

Step-by-step explanation:

If water is given to dehydrated patients instead of a saline solution, the cells of the patients will take-in water from the surrounding solution by osmosis because distilled water is hypotonic to the red blood cells. The cytosol has a higher concentration of solutes than distilled water. When this happens, the cells become turgid and burst out its contents, a condition known as hemolysis.