When a human cell is placed into water, it swells. Which of the following statem

Question

When a human cell is placed into water, it swells. Which of the following statements best explains this?

a) Water is diffusion across the plasma membrane from a region of high (outside the cell) to low (inside the cell) “free water” water concentration.

b) Water is being pulled into the cell by the cell’s solutes.

c) Water is diffusion across the plasma membrane from a region of low (outside the cell) to high (inside the cell) “free water” water concentration.

d) Solutes are being drawn into the cell across the plasma membrane.

Explanation / Answer

c) Water is diffusion across the plasma membrane from a region of low (outside the cell) to high (inside the cell) “free water” water concentration.

explaination:
Well, the reasons cells work is that with expelling of solutes from the pores of the skin, the body is losing ion, electrolytes, etc. in the sweat causing them to shrink (crenate). With the shrinking, the cells lose some elasticity of the membrane that needs to be slowly gotten back. With pure water, if too much is drank then the cell swells too much. Drinking pure water causes the concentration of ions and such outside the cell to be hypotonic (lower concentration of solutes than inside the cell). To try to balance the concentrations out with osmosis, water goes into cells to dilute the higher concentration causing the cells to swell. Too much water, the cells lyse (burst).

Solutes do not need to be added to water. Pure water will hydrate just fine as long as it is done in reasonable amounts. Tap water already has some ions in it, so the hydration is less.

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