Question

A red blood cell is placed in a concentrated sugar solution. What happens and why?

Answer 1

Osmosis will result in water flowing out of the cell, leading to dehydration of the cell, which would cause the cell to shrink.

Explanation:

The normal level of particle concentration for the environment of a blood cell would be about 0.6 M. In this case, the solution is isotonic to the cell.

On the other hand, if the concentration is raised, the solution is hypertonic. The movement of water will be from the cell into the surrounding solution (as though the cell was trying to dilute the surrounding solution to reach an isotonic state). The cell becomes shriveled and flaccid.

You can check this site out for more information:

http://www.etomica.org/app/modules/sites/Osmosis_old/Background1.html