plasmolysis turgid flaccid turgor Explain what happened to the cells when you replaced the surrounding sodium chloride solution with water. Try to include the words from the list again. What prevents the plant cells from bursting when they take in lots of water? You’ve seen what happens to cells in epidermal tissue when they lose water. How does a whole plant look when it is short of water? How does it change when you give it water? Try to explain these observations using the ideas above. Animal cells do not have the same structure as plant cells. What do you think could happen to an animal cell in water? What would you do to investigate this process further? ANSWERS Cells in distilled water show no gaps between the cytoplasm and the cell wall, and may show a clear vacuole. In 5% sodium chloride, the cytoplasm is contracted and there is a gap between the cytoplasm and the cell wall. When you take away the sodium chloride and add water, the situation returns to the initial state. The cytoplasm contains at a concentration greater than that of distilled water (zero) and less than the sodium chloride solution (5%). Because of this difference in concentration of solute, water (the solvent) diffuses through the cell membrane from the area of lower concentration to the area of higher concentration this is osmosis. In 5% sodium chloride – solution, the cell loses water to the point where the vacuole becomes reduced and the cytoplasm comes away from the cell wall. The cell is now plasmolysed and the body of the plant would be flaccid. Therefore, in distilled the solvent diffuses through the cell membrane from the area of lower concentration (outside) to the area of higher concentration (inside). This is osmosis again and the plant cell absorbs water to the point where it can absorb no more. The cell is now turgid and the cell wall prevents the cell from bursting. The cell wall prevents the cell from bursting. When a whole plant is short of water, all its cells are flaccid and the whole plant wilts or droops. When you give it water, all the cells become turgid
plasmolysis turgid flaccid turgor Explain what happened to the cells when you replaced the surrounding sodium chloride solution with water. Try to include the words from the list again. What prevents the plant cells from bursting when they take in lots of water? You’ve seen what happens to cells in epidermal tissue when they lose water. How does a whole plant look when it is short of water? How does it change when you give it water? Try to explain these observations using the ideas above. Animal cells do not have the same structure as plant cells. What do you think could happen to an animal cell in water? What would you do to investigate this process further? ANSWERS Cells in distilled water show no gaps between the cytoplasm and the cell wall, and may show a clear vacuole. In 5% sodium chloride, the cytoplasm is contracted and there is a gap between the cytoplasm and the cell wall. When you take away the sodium chloride and add water, the situation returns to the initial state. The cytoplasm contains at a concentration greater than that of distilled water (zero) and less than the sodium chloride solution (5%). Because of this difference in concentration of solute, water (the solvent) diffuses through the cell membrane from the area of lower concentration to the area of higher concentration – this is osmosis. In 5% sodium chloride solution, the cell loses water to the point where the vacuole becomes reduced and the cytoplasm comes away from the cell wall. The cell is now plasmolysed and the body of the plant would be flaccid. Therefore, in distilled the solvent diffuses through the cell membrane from the area of lower concentration (outside) to the area of higher concentration (inside). This is osmosis again and the plant cell absorbs water to the point where it can absorb no more. The cell is now turgid and the cell wall prevents the cell from bursting. The cell wall prevents the cell from bursting. When a whole plant is short of water, all its cells are flaccid and the whole plant wilts or droops. When you give it water, all the cells become turgid
observing-osmosis-plasmoylsis-and-turgor-in-plant-cells-ss-44%20(2).docx