What happens if you place human red blood cells in a concentrated salt solution

Biology

2 answers:

wariber [46]3 years ago

8 0

They shrink as water moves from inside to outside the cells as a result of osmosis.

Zanzabum3 years ago

4 0

Answer:

The red blood cell shrinks

Explanation:

According to the question, the solution the red blood cell was placed in has a concentrated salt solution, this implies that the solution is hypertonic i.e. high solute concentration in relation to the blood cell, or otherwise the red blood cell's content is hypotonic i.e. low solute concentration in relation to the extracellular solution.

Due to this difference in concentration between the cell and the external solution, an osmotic flow occurs. Osmosis is the movement of water from a region of low solute concentration/high solvent concentration to a region of high solute concentration/low solvent concentration through a semi-permeable membrane, which in this case is the membrane of the red blood cell. This osmotic gradient causes water to flow out of the red blood cell (where the solute concentration is low) to the extracellular solution (where the solute concentration is high).

Hence, the red blood cell loses water and shrinks or reduce in size.

You might be interested in

Describe two things that would happen in an ecosystem if there were no unicellular organisms. Explain why something with only on

Ierofanga [76]

Unicellular organisms include bacteria, protists, and yeast. For example, a paramecium is a slipper-shaped, unicellular organism found in pond water. It takes in food from the water and digests it in organelles known as food vacuoles. Nutrients from the food travel through the cytoplasm to the surrounding organelles, helping to keep the cell, and thus the organism, functioning. Multicellular organisms are composed of more than one cell, with groups of cells differentiating to take on specialized functions. In humans, cells differentiate early in development to become nerve cells, skin cells, muscle cells, blood cells, and other types of cells. One can easily observe the differences in these cells under a microscope. Their structure is related to their function, meaning each type of cell takes on a particular form in order to best serve its purpose. Nerve cells have appendages called dendrites and axons that connect with other nerve cells to move muscles, send signals to glands, or register sensory stimuli. Outer skin cells form flattened stacks that protect the body from the environment. Muscle cells are slender fibers that bundle together for muscle contraction. The cells of multicellular organisms may also look different according to the organelles needed inside of the cell. For example, muscle cells have more mitochondria than most other cells so that they can readily produce energy for movement; cells of the pancreas need to produce many proteins and have more ribosomes and rough endoplasmic reticula to meet this demand. Although all cells have organelles in common, the number and types of organelles present reveal how the cell functions.

Hope that helps!!

5 0

3 years ago

Read 2 more answers

-what new inventions made possible for scientists to practice direct observation?

Cloud [144]

Microscope is one of the invention for scientist to practice direct observation. It allows scientists to observe the world in micro scale.

8 0

3 years ago

What are biotic factors found in a kitchen

Bumek [7]

Well biotic factors are living things basically so anything living would apply. Mold could be an answer or lettuce in a fridge. Hope this helped.