Question

When an animal cell is placed in a hypotonic solution, _____.

a)it will gain water and may burst
b)it will lose water and shrink
c)it will remain the same size
d)the cell's reaction cannot be determined

Answer 1

Well, do you understand what is meant when they say "hypotonic" ?

Answer 2

yes i just figured it out u think it is
a)it will gain water and may burst

Answer 3

yes

Answer 4

not u i meant i*

Answer 5

thank you

Answer 6

It will be B because the animal with shrible up and shrink

Answer 7

That is incorrect, @ZairaHernandez

Answer 8

@ZairaHernandez Hypotonyic means high concentration of water, in other words, higher than that of the cell's conc. of water
Osmosis is from high to low concentration, down conc. gradient
so u'd expect the flow of water from outside solution to inside of cell =cell swells
animal cells do not have protective outer cell wall as plant cells do
thats why their cell membranes may burst

Think of it as filling a balloon with air
there is a particular limit to how much the balloon expends, and after that limit is reached - BAM it bursts & so does animal cell' cell membrane

Answer 9

@somy Actually, hypotonic means low, hence the hypo. The container (whatever it is) that has a water/solute solution on the inside of a semi-permealbe membrane has a lower osmotic pressure than the water around it.

So, on the inside there is more solute than the outside, and conversely, there is more water molecules on the outside than the inside.



My graph shows weight change (y axis) of a hypothetical cell in a solution of increasing molarity (x axis). If the weight change is positive, cell is in a hypotonic solution, if it does not change it is isotonic, if it is negative then it is hypertonic.