Based on what we know about the osmosis of water molecules across plasma membranes, predict what will happen to the cytoplasmic
volume of the cells of Elodea (that is, the amount of liquid stored inside the cells) when an Elodea leaf is placed in a 15% NaCI solution (a hypertonic environment) Based on what we know about the osmosis of water molecules across plasma membranes, predict what will happen to the cytoplasmic volume of red blood cells (that is, the amount of liquid stored inside the cells) when red blood cells are placed in distilled water (a hypotonic environment)
when placed in hyper tonic solution , the cytoplasmic volume of elodea plant will be reduced, this is because, elodea is a water plant with high water potential; therefore,with cytoplasm of high water potential elodea will loose water from the cytoplasm to the external; hypertonic solution, of lower of potential by osmosis. This reduces the cytoplasmic volume.With time the protoplasm pulls away from the cell wall, and the whole elodea structure shrinks.
However,, when RBC is placed in hypotonic solution, of higher water potential than the RBC (which has lower water potential), the cytoplasmic volume increases as water moves into the cytoplasm by osmosis. The RBC swells and eventually busted. This is hemolysis.
