Question

If a plant cell is placed in a solution and the cell shrivels up, what type of solution was it placed in? How do you know?

Answer 1

Answer: The solution was hypertonic

Explanation: The reason for this is the fact that the cell shriveled up. The shriveling was caused by water moving out of the cell. This movement is likely caused by a disbalance in solutes between the cell and the surrounding, with the surrounding containing a higher concentration of solutes. Diffusion tries to balance this by moving water out of the cell, thus increasing the concentration inside and reducing the concentration outside.