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

Exosmosis:

1. When a cell is submerged in a hypertonic solution, exosmosis occurs, which is the flow of water outside the cells.
2. The outer water flow causes the cell to become flaccid.
3. Vegetables typically receive salt while cooking, and as a result of exosmosis, the vegetables release water.
4. In exosmosis, water passes across a semipermeable barrier from a higher concentration to a lower concentration.
5. In vegetables, the concentration of water inside the cell is higher than the concentration outside the cell (hypertonic).
6. The cell contracts as a result, and water is released into the environment.
7. Furthermore, exosmosis causes water to leave the cell.