What will happen if you water a plant with salt water?
1 Answer
it will die
Explanation:
If you water a plant with salt water, it will wilt, and will eventually die. This is due to the fact that the salt water is a hypertonic solution when compared to the plant cells, and water inside the plant cells will diffuse by osmosis out of the cells in order to reduce the concentration of the salt solution.
This will reduce the turgor pressure inside the cells and they will wilt. If too much water is lost, the cells will die.
Here is a video which discusses the effect of salt water on plant cells.
Note: Aquatic plants do not need to be watered. Plants that live in fresh water would be killed if salt levels in the water became too high. Aquatic plants that live in salt water are adapted to live in this environment so they will not be killed by salt water.
