Question

A beaker of water is divided into two compartments, a and b, by an artificial lipid bilayer. The concentration of na+ in compartment a is 1.0 m, while the concentration of na+ in compartment b is 0.5 m. With regards to na+ concentration, compartment a would be referred to as __________, while compartment b would be referred to as __________.

Answer 1

Based on concentration of solute particles and hence the osmotic pressure the solutions can be classified into three categories , with respect to other solutions

a) isotonic: when concentration of one of the solution is same as of the other solution then they are referred as isotonic to each other.

b) hypertonic: When concentration of the solution is greater than the concentration of other solution then it is said to be hypertonic.

c) hypotonic: when concentration of the solution is lesser than the concentration of other solution then it is said to be hypotonic.

So a solution with high concentration of solute will have higher osomotic pressure and will called to have high pressure or tone hence called as hypertonic.

Thus compartment A will have high concentration and will called as hypertonic while the compartment B will have low concentration and will called as hypotonic