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This question contains four image-based options describing the expected outcome in an experiment.
It will probably dry up.
It will burst open.
No change will be visible in it.
It will probably swell.
It will probably swell.
When a plant cell is placed in a hypertonic solution (a medium with higher solute concentration/lower water potential than the cell sap), water moves out of the cell by osmosis. This process, known as plasmolysis, causes the protoplasm to shrink away from the cell wall.
When a plant cell is placed in a hypertonic solution (a medium with higher solute concentration/lower water potential than the cell sap), water moves out of the cell by osmosis. This process, known as plasmolysis, causes the protoplasm to shrink away from the cell wall.
Similar to how a grape shrinks into a raisin when placed in a concentrated sugar syrup because the syrup pulls the water out of the grape.
╬иwтАЛ=╬иsтАЛ+╬иpтАЛ тАФ where ╬иwтАЛ is water potential, ╬иsтАЛ is solute potential, and ╬иpтАЛ is pressure potential.
Water follows the concentration gradient of solutes. According to the laws of osmosis, water molecules move from a region of higher water potential (inside the cell) to a region of lower water potential (the external medium) across the semi-permeable plasma membrane until equilibrium is reached, resulting in the loss of turgor pressure.
Plasmolysis occurs in hypertonic environments.
The plant cell wall remains intact while the protoplast shrinks.
Loss of turgor pressure leads to wilting.
This is a reversible process called deplasmolysis if the cell is returned to an isotonic or hypotonic solution.
Used for food preservation (e.g., salting fish or pickles).
Can lead to the death of the cell if prolonged (cytorrhysis).
Preserving food via osmotic dehydration.
Weed control using high-salt concentrations.
Option A (shrinking/drying) is partially descriptive of the physical result but is less specific than the biological process.
Option B (bursting) occurs in animal cells (hemolysis) in hypotonic solutions, not plant cells.
Option C (no change) is incorrect as osmosis always occurs if there is a concentration gradient.
A is correct тАФ The process described is plasmolysis, which occurs when a plant cell loses water to a hypertonic medium, leading to the shrinking of the protoplast.
Always remember that plant cell walls provide structural support, preventing them from bursting in hypotonic solutions, unlike animal cells which lack a cell wall.
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