Question

Red blood cells contain approximately a 2% concentration of solutes. a red blood cell is placed into a solution that contains a 4% concentration of solutes to which the cell is not permeable. what will happen to the red blood cell?

Answer 1

I believe that the cells will decrease in size as water flows out of it. The red blood cell is hypotonic to the the solution while the solution is hypertonic, therefore, the blood cells losses water osmotically and decrease in size. Water moves from inside the cell to the outside by osmosis. The end result is the shrinking of the red blood cells.