A red blood cell is placed in distilled water. After some time it
Aremains unchanged because the membrane is impermeable to water.
Bshrinks and becomes crenated.
Cbecomes plasmolysed.
Dswells and bursts.CORRECT
JUPEBBiologyCell Biology and Organisation
AI
Toaster Teacher
Why the answer is D, and why the others tempt you.
Distilled water is hypotonic to the cell contents, so water enters by osmosis. Because an animal cell has no cell wall to resist the pressure, the cell swells and eventually bursts (haemolysis). Crenation occurs in a hypertonic solution, and plasmolysis is a term for plant cells only.
Want this in Pidgin, Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa? Sign up free →
Practice more Biology questions
JUPEB Biology has thousands more questions like this — with Worked answers on every one.