Question

If you are provided with some vegetables to cook, you generally add salt to the vegetables during the cooking process. After adding salt, vegetables release water. What mechanism is responsible for this?

Answer 1

In general, we add salt to vegetables during the cooking process, and the vegetables release water as a result of exosmosis.

Exosmosis:

1. Water travels from a higher concentration to a lower concentration across the semipermeable membrane in exosmosis.
2. The concentration of water within the cell (in veggies) is larger than the concentration outside the cell (hypertonic).
3. As a result, the cell shrinks and emits water into the surrounding environment.
4. Furthermore, water travels out of the cell during exosmosis.