15. The cell in the picture has been placed into a hypertonic solution as shown. The dots represent a solute (such as salt or sugar) that has been
dissolved in water. Note, the water molecules are not shown. Assuming that the cell membrane is permeable to water and not to the solute
what will happen to the size of the cell over time and why?
Osmosis is the net movement of water molecules through a semipermeable membrane like the cell membrane from a region where their concentration is low to a region of high concentration. When the external solution has a higher osmotic pressure than the cell contents, then it is said to be hypertonic. The cell was placed in a hypertonic solution. The concentration gradient between the outside and the inside makes water molecules to move through the cell membrane to the external solution. This makes the cell to shrink due to loss of water.
