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Imagine you have a cup that has 100ml water, and you add 15g of table sugar to the water.The plasma membrane pulls away from the cell wall as it shrivels, a process called plasmolysis.You now add the two solutions to a beaker that has been divided by a selectively permeable membrane, with pores that are too small for the sugar molecules to pass through, but are big enough for the water molecules to pass through.In comparing two solutions of unequal solute concentration, the solution with the higher solute concentration is hypertonic, and the solution with the lower solute concentration is hypotonic.Osmosis is the diffusion of water molecules across a selectively permeable membrane from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration.The sugar dissolves and the mixture that is now in the cup is made up of a solute (the sugar) that is dissolved in the solvent (the water).The hypertonic solution has a lower water concentration than the hypotonic solution, so a concentration gradient of water now exists across the membrane.If a cell is in a hypertonic solution, the solution has a lower water concentration than the cell cytosol, and water moves out of the cell until both solutions are isotonic.Cells placed in a hypotonic solution will take in water across their membrane until both the external solution and the cytosol are isotonic.The mixture of a solute in a solvent is called asolution.

Imagine you have a cup that has 100ml water, and you add 15g of table sugar to the water. The sugar dissolves and the mixture that is now in the cup is made up of a solute (the sugar) that is dissolved in the solvent (the water). The mixture of a solute in a solvent is called asolution.

Imagine now that you have a second cup with 100ml of water, and you add 45 grams of table sugar to the water. Just like the first cup, the sugar is the solute, and the water is the solvent. But now you have two mixtures of different solute concentrations. In comparing two solutions of unequal solute concentration, the solution with the higher solute concentration is hypertonic, and the solution with the lower solute concentration is hypotonic. Solutions of equal solute concentration are isotonic. The first sugar solution is hypotonic to the second solution. The second sugar solution is hypertonic to the first.

You now add the two solutions to a beaker that has been divided by a selectively permeable membrane, with pores that are too small for the sugar molecules to pass through, but are big enough for the water molecules to pass through. The hypertonic solution is on one side of the membrane and the hypotonic solution on the other. The hypertonic solution has a lower water concentration than the hypotonic solution, so a concentration gradient of water now exists across the membrane. Water molecules will move from the side of higher water concentration to the side of lower concentration until both solutions are isotonic. At this point, equilibrium is reached.

Osmosis is the diffusion of water molecules across a selectively permeable membrane from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration. Water moves into and out of cells by osmosis. If a cell is in a hypertonic solution, the solution has a lower water concentration than the cell cytosol, and water moves out of the cell until both solutions are isotonic. Cells placed in a hypotonic solution will take in water across their membrane until both the external solution and the cytosol are isotonic.

A cell that does not have a rigid cell wall, such as a red blood cell, will swell and lyse (burst) when placed in a hypotonic solution. Cells with a cell wall will swell when placed in a hypotonic solution, but once the cell is turgid (firm), the tough cell wall prevents any more water from entering the cell. When placed in a hypertonic solution, a cell without a cell wall will lose water to the environment, shrivel, and probably die. In a hypertonic solution, a cell with a cell wall will lose water too. The plasma membrane pulls away from the cell wall as it shrivels, a process called plasmolysis. Animal cells tend to do best in an isotonic environment, plant cells tend to do best in a hypotonic environment. This is demonstrated inFigure below.