Question

What happens to animal cells if they are put in fresh water?

Answer 1

Below

Explanation:

If your animal cells are placed in fresh water, the water will diffuse rapidly into your cells. This is known as osmosis

Why?
Well, you have less concentration of water in your cells than outside of the cells. Hence, water will want to travel into the cell to make the concentration of water equal inside and outside the cell.

However, as water enters continuously into the cell to make the concentration equal, the cell may expand to the point that it will burst. This is known as lysing.

Answer 2

They would burst...

Explanation:

When we put animal cells into pure, fresh water `(H_2O)`, water enters the cells as a result of osmosis, and making the cell expand. This is because osmosis states that water will diffuse down a concentration gradient through the cell's partially permeable membrane.

Water will move from a high concentration (the solution) to a region of low concentration (inside the cell). This will make the cell expand greatly. Since animal cells do not have a cell wall, when too much of this water enters to make the concentration of water on both sides even, the animal cell may eventually burst, and die out.