Which one of the following will be resulted when an animal cell is surrounded by a medium with lower concentration of water?
[amp_mcq option1=”Cell will lose water” option2=”No change in movement of water” option3=”Cell will gain water” option4=”Cell will swell up” correct=”option1″]
This question was previously asked in
UPSC NDA-2 – 2022
The correct answer is Cell will lose water.
Osmosis is the movement of water across a semi-permeable membrane from a region of higher water potential (lower solute concentration) to a region of lower water potential (higher solute concentration). A medium with a “lower concentration of water” means it has a higher concentration of solutes compared to the cell’s cytoplasm; such a medium is hypertonic to the cell. Therefore, water will move by osmosis from inside the cell (higher water concentration) to the surrounding medium (lower water concentration).