Question

If you performed this experiment using mgcl2 as the solute would the molar concentration of mgcl2 that is isotonic to the potato be higher, the same or lower than the molar concentration of nacl that is isotonic to the potato? explain.

Answer 1

The answer to this question would be: lower molar concentration

Osmotic pressure is influenced by the number of ions and the concentration of the molecule in the solution. In NaCl, the molecule will split into 1 Na+ ion and 1 Cl- ion which results in 2 ions per compound. In MgCl2, the compound will split into 1 Mg2+ ion and 2 Cl- ion which results in 3 ions. Therefore, the osmotic pressure of MgCl2 will be 3/2 times of NaCl.
MgCl2 will need less concentration to achieve same osmotic pressure as NaCl. If the MgCl2 solution is isotonic with NaCl, the concentration of MgCl2 would be lower than NaCl