Question

What changes occur in a plant cell when it is placed in a hypotonic solution?

Answer 1

When the plant cell is placed in a hypotonic solution , it takes up water by osmosis and starts to swell, but the cell wall prevents it from bursting. The plant cellis said to have become "turgid" i.e. swollen and hard. The pressure inside the cellrises until this internal pressure is equal to the pressure outside.

Answer 2

In a hypertonic solution, there is a higher concentration of solute outside the cell, and more water inside the cell. Osmosis causes the water inside the cell to travel out, trying to dilute the high concentration of solute. This causes the cell membrane to shrink away from the cell wall, the vacuole to shrink, and the cell wall to bend inward. In a hypotonic solution, the opposite is true. There is a high concentration of solute inside the cell, and more water outside. Osmosis causes the water outside the cell to travel inside, causing the vacuole to expand and push the organelles against the cell wall, and the cell wall to swell. In animal cells, they shrink and collapse in on themselves in hypertonic solutions, and lyse (burst) in hypotonic solutions. Plant cells do not do these things due to their rigid cell walls.