Question

A cell that is 3% salt is placed in a container of pure water. What will happen to the cell's size?

Answer 1

the water would go into the cell slowly and the size of the cell would increase.

Explanation:

This is because the cell has high concentration of solutes compared to pure water so osmosis will act to try to balance the concentration gradient. I think this is correct but I'm not too certain so check with others

Answer 2

The cell's size increases.

Explanation:

The cell contains `3%` salt, so we can safely assume that it contains `100%-3%=97%` water. Pure water contains `100%` water of course, and so osmosis happens.

Remember that osmosis is the movement of solvent particles, usually water, down a concentration gradient through a partially permeable membrane, in this case it's the cell membrane.

So, water will move in from the solution and into the cell, which would increase the cell's size. If too much water enters, the cell will eventually burst.

This type of environment is called a hypotonic environment, where the concentration of water is higher on the outside of the cell than the inside.