A scientist grew an Elodea plant in a freshwater aquarium. She
removed a leaf from the plant and placed the leaf in a hypertonic
solution containing 8% salt in order to observe what happened to the
cells within the leaf. When she looked at the cells under a microscope,
she noticed that the cells in the leaf shrunk. Which statement best
explains what caused the cells to shrink?
A. The hypertonic solution caused the water in the cell to move from the
cytoplasm into the nucleus.
B. The salt moved from the hypertonic solution into the cell and
chemically bonded with the water.
C. The salt within the cell moved through the cell membrane into the
solution with the higher salt concentration.
D. The water within the cell moved through the cell membrane into the
solution with the lower water concentration.
Answer: D. The water within the cell moved through the cell membrane into the solution with the lower water concentration.
Explanation:
Osmosis is the process of movement of water or any other fluid from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration across a semipermeable membrane.
A hypertonic solution is the one which has higher solute concentration and low solvent concentration.
According to the given situation, the scientist when placed the leaf in the hypertonic solution containing 8% salt solution. The water in the leaf cells will move out of the leaf due to osmosis and the leaf will shrink. As the 8% salt solution is hypertonic.
