Question

59. Your biology class is performing an osmosis experiment. You are given three identical stalks of celery and three salt solutions of varying concentrations, described below.

Salt Amount of the Solution       

Solution A has more salt than the cells of the celery stalk      

Solution B has less salt than the cells of the celery stalk      

Solution C has the same salt content as the cells of the celery stalk   

a). Identify which solution is isotonic, hypertonic, or hypotonic to the celery stalk cells

b). Describe why the celery stalk will shrink when placed in the hypertonic solution

Answer 1

• Hypertonic Solutions: The solutions which has more amount of solute outside the cell than inside it. Solution A has more salt (solute) outside the cells of the celery stalk, so it is hypertonic.
• Hypotonic Solutions: The solutions which has more solute inside the cell than outside it. Solution B has less salt outside the celery stalk, so it is hypotonic.
• Isotonic Solutions: The solution which has equal amount of solute outside the cell as well as inside. Solution C is thus isotonic.

When placed inside a hypertonic solution, the water present inside the cell will move out toward the hypertonic due to osmosis trying to make the solution isotonic. Thus there is a loss of cell fluids making the cell shrink.

Osmosis: The phenomenon of movement of solvent molecules from regions of low concentrations to higher concentrations through a semipermiable membrane is called osmosis.

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