Question

Please help ? . If the contents of a cell have a solute concentration of 0.04 percent which of these solutions would cause it to swell?
A.) 10-percent solute concentration
B.) 1-percent solute concentration
C.) 0.1 percent solute concentration
D.) 0.01 percent solute concentration.

Answer 1

Two things:

First, do you understand hypertonic and hypotonic? What you're looking for here is a hypotonic solution.

Second, it depends on the cell. Plant cells want high osmotic pressure so they can have turgor pressure that keeps them rigid instead of wilted. Human cells on the other hand can be found from this:

Osmolarity = osmolality * (ρ\(_{sol}\) − c\(_a\))
where
c\(_a\) = the (anhydrous) solute concentration, in g/mL (about 0.03 g/mL for humans)
p\(_{sol}\) = the density of the solution, in g/ml (i.e.: 1.025 g/ml for blood plasma in humans)

And note osmolaRity isn't osmolaLity (trying to show emphasis on the words here). The normal plasma osmolarity for humans is in the range of 280-300 mOs/kg. (osmols per kilogram)


Can you find your answer from here?