Imagine a small synthetic vesicle made from pure phospholipids enclosing an interior lumen containing 1 mM glucose and 1 mM sodi

Question

3 years ago

8

Imagine a small synthetic vesicle made from pure phospholipids enclosing an interior lumen containing 1 mM glucose and 1 mM sodi

um chloride. If the vesicle is placed in pure water, which of the following happens faster?
A. Na+ diffuses out.
B. Cl– diffuses out.
C. H2O diffuses in.
D. Glucose diffuses out.
E. Sodium chloride diffuses out.

Chemistry

1 answer:

Alexeev081 [22] · Answer 1 · 2021-12-18T20:30:41+03:00

Answer:

C. H2O diffuses in.

Explanation:

<em>The phospholipids-made synthetic vesicle in this case will act like a semi-permeable membrane while the solution in the interior lumen will be hypertonic to the surrounding pure water. </em>

<em>Hence, water molecules will diffuse into the lumen through the semi-permeable membrane because of the osmotic gradient that exist between the internal and the surrounding solution of the vesicle.</em>