What will happen to a houseplant if you water it with salt water (a hypertonic solution)?
1 Answer
Dec 10, 2015
it will wilt as the roots will not be able to absorb water from the soil .
Explanation:
The root system depends on the concentration difference in salt between inside the plant and outside to absorb water. Salt should be highly concentrated inside so the water gets in by osmosis, so when the salt is high outside more than inside, not only roots will not be able to absorb water but also water may leave the plant to th e outside leading to the wilting process.
This video shows onion cells losing water because of osmosis. The slide was originally made using distilled water, then drops of concentrated salt were added to the edge of the cover slip. The salt diffuses under the cover slip and plasmolysis begins at 0:48.
