Question

Put a drop of blood in three type of liquids (a). pure water (b). salt solution (c). water containing 5M glucose and 0.9% Nacl. What will happen to the blood drop and why explain your answer.

Answer 1

Dear Student,

a)When placed in a hypotonic solution such as pure water, blood cell will absorb water by endosmosis and swell up. This is because solute concentration is higher inside the cells than on its outside. If the duration is long then the uptake of water may be so much that the cell may burst as well.

b) The blood cells would lose water and shrink when placed in salt solution. This is because concentration of solute is higher on outside of the cell than on its inside.

c)In 5M glucose and 0.9% NaCl, the red blood cells neither gain nor lose weight as human RBC's have an osmotic condition of 0.9%. This suggests that RBC is present in an isotonic solution.

Regards