EVERYDAY SCIENCE

SCIENCE

CELL BIOLOGY

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
In pure water, a red blood cell from an animal will swell and burst, but a leaf cell from a plant will not. Which structure in the leaf cell is responsible for this difference?
A
cell membrane
B
cell wall
C
mitochondrion
D
nucleus
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Plant cells swell up when kept in hypotonic solution because plant cells absorb large amounts of water in hypotonic solution such that the vacuole is completely filled with water and the cytoplasm presses against the cell wall. But it does not get burst due to the presence of cell wall.

Detailed explanation-2: -Red blood cells placed in a solution with a higher water concentration compared to their contents (eg pure water) will gain water by osmosis, swell up and burst. Water will diffuse from a higher water concentration outside the cell to a lower water concentration inside the cell.

Detailed explanation-3: -So, the correct answer is ‘Cells wall is rigid and does not get overstretched’

Detailed explanation-4: -In hypotonic solutions, there is a net movement of water from the solution into the body. A cell placed into a hypotonic solution will swell and expand until it eventually burst through a process known as cytolysis.

Detailed explanation-5: -The cell wall protects the plant cell from bursting due to the influx of water. Rather than bursting, the cell is able to withstand the osmotic pressure exerted by the water molecules. Consequently, the cell is kept turgid. Some plant cells have a cell wall comprised of a single layer.

There is 1 question to complete.