Question

What happens when

(a) Dry apricots are left for sometime in pure water and later transferred to sugar solution?

(b) A Red Blood Cell is kept in concentrated saline solution?

(c) Rheo leaves are boiled in water first and then a drop of sugar syrup is put on it?

Answer 1

a. When dry apricots are placed in pure water, they swell as water moves from outside to the inside of the cell due to endosmosis. But, when transferred the same into the sugar solution, the cell shrinks as the water moves outside of the cell to retain the equilibrium. This is called exosmosis.

b. When a red blood cell is kept in a saline solution, the cell will shrink as the water moves from inside to outside to maintain the equilibrium concentration.

c. When rheo leaves are boiled in water, the cells will die and then if dropped in sugar syrup, no osmosis or no reaction is seen as the cells are already dead.