Explain the difference between (a) a hypotonic and an isotonic solution; (b) an isotonic and a hypertonic solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The correct answer and explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (a) A hypotonic solution has a lower concentration of solutes compared to the inside of a cell. When a cell is placed in a hypotonic solution, water enters the cell because of osmosis, the movement of water from areas of low solute concentration to areas of high solute concentration. As water continues to enter, the cell may swell and potentially burst (lyse). For example, if red blood cells are placed in pure water (a hypotonic solution), they will take in water and eventually burst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In contrast, an isotonic solution has the same concentration of solutes as the inside of a cell. When a cell is placed in an isotonic solution, there is no net movement of water into or out of the cell, because the concentrations are balanced. This means the cell maintains its normal shape and function. For example, saline solution used in medical applications is isotonic with human blood cells, meaning it does not cause them to shrink or swell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (b) An isotonic solution and a hypertonic solution differ in terms of solute concentration. An isotonic solution, as explained, has the same solute concentration as the inside of a cell. In contrast, a hypertonic solution has a higher concentration of solutes compared to the inside of a cell. When a cell is placed in a hypertonic solution, water moves out of the cell to the surrounding solution, resulting in cell shrinkage or crenation. For example, when red blood cells are placed in a hypertonic solution, they lose water and shrivel up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In summary, a hypotonic solution causes water to enter the cell, an isotonic solution maintains cell size, and a hypertonic solution leads to water leaving the cell, causing it to shrink.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Explain the difference between (a) a hypotonic and an isotonic solution; (b) an isotonic and a hypertonic solution. The correct answer and explanation is: (a) A hypotonic solution has a lower concentration of solutes compared to the inside of a cell. When a cell is placed in a hypotonic solution, water enters the cell because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247287\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}