Biology Forums - Study Force

I know there is a 2 question limit rule but all three go together and I wouldn't know how to explain the last one on another post if I seperate them up.



4.) A red blood cell is placed in a beaker filled with a “hypertonic” solution.  Explain the tonicity difference between the inside and outside of the cell, and what will happen to the cell. (4 points)








5.   A red blood cell is placed in a beaker filled with a “hypotonic” solution.  Explain the tonicity difference between the inside and outside of the cell, and what will happen to the cell. (4 points)












6.   For questions 4 & 5, what moved across the membrane?  What do we call this type of movement?  Is it passive or active? (3 points)

4. When the osmotic pressure of the solution outside the blood cells in higher than the osmotic pressure inside the red blood cells, the solution is hypertonic. The water inside the blood cells exits the cells in an attempt to equalize the osmotic pressure, causing the cells to shrink

5. When the solution outside of the red blood cells has a lower osmotic pressure,the solution is hypotonic with respect to the cells. The cells take in water in an attempt to equalize the osmotic pressure, causing them to swell and potentially burst.

6.

That's is a great answer.

6. Water moves across the membrane. You know it is water because you are talking about hypotonic and hypertonic solutions. Because you know it is water passing through you know it's called osmosis. It is passive because it does not use ATP. The semipermeable membrane allows water to pass through to correct the difference of osmotic pressure between the cell and solution.

I hope this helped you better understand!