Question

What will be observed when a plant or animal cell is put in a hypertonic solution?
A. Cell swells
B. Cell shrinks
C. Cell bursts
D. None of these

Answer 1

Hint: When an extracellular solution makes water moveable inward or outward of a cell through the process of osmosis then it is called the tonicity of the solution. A solution's tonicity is based on the total concentration of all solutes in the solution.

Complete answer:
Tonicity of the solution is the ability of the extracellular solution to make the water moveable inward or outward of a cell through the process of osmosis. It can be three types which are hypotonic, hypertonic, and isotonic. A hypertonic solution can be defined as a type of solution where the concentration of solute is comparatively more than the concentration of the cell sap of the cell that is put in it.
Osmosis refers to a process of movement of solvent molecules where the molecules pass from a region or area of their higher concentration to a region of their lower concentration.
The concentration of the solution which is present in the surrounding of the cell is more than the concentration of the sap present inside the cell. Therefore, the solvent molecules present inside the cell will move out of the cell because the concentration of the solvent is higher inside the cell as compared to the outside.
In this process, when an animal or plant cell is placed in a hypertonic solution, the cell will lose water and shrink.
A plant cell is enclosed by a rigid cell wall. Though the cell does shrink, this process occurs by slowly losing water and forming a spherical mass, by the plasma membrane moving away from the cell wall. This process is known as plasmolysis. During the starting of plasmolysis, the plasma membrane has slightly retreated back from the cell, then it is known as incipient plasmolysis.
Thus, the right option is B.

Note: In the case of hypertonic solutions, it possesses a higher solute concentration. When a plant or animal cell is placed in the hypertonic solutions, the water that presents in the cell will move from inside the cell to the outside of the cell, resulting in the shrinking of the cell. This occurs due to the process of osmosis where the molecule moves from the higher concentration to the lower concentration.