Question

You took a fresh tomato and put it in a highly concentrated salt solution for 2 hrs. Your
little brother looked at it and stated “The fat tomato is so thin now” What a magic?
a) Define the phenomenon which has taken place.
b) How does a cell wall help a plant to withstand hypotonic external media without
bursting?

Answer 1

You took a fresh tomato and put it in a highly concentrated salt solution for 2 hrs.

After two hours tomato becomes thin. The process which takes place is called osmosis.

The concentration of salt solution is lesser inside the tomato than outside. Hence the molecules flow towards high concentration region through the peel.

The walls of the plant cells have ability to withstand the external hypotonic media and hence they do not burst.

Answer 2

You took a fresh tomato and put it in a highly concentrated salt solution for 2 hrs. After two hours tomato becomes thin. The process which takes place is called osmosis. The concentration of salt solution is lesser inside the tomato than outside. Hence the molecules flow towards high concentration region through the peel. The walls of the plant cells have ability to withstand the external hypotonic media and hence they do not burst.