Hypothetically speaking, I placed a cell in a glass of water and after about a day the cell grew in size. Why did the cell grow?

Well I was thinking this:
The reason the cell grew was because there was a higher concentration of water outside of the cell and therefore -in order to acheive equillibrium- the water diffused into the cell (which had a lower concentration of water).

So the solute was hypertonic to the cell and the cell was hypotonic to the solute and therefore water was diffused into the cell through osmosis.

Is that right?

The first paragraph was right.

The second doesn't make sense. Water flows from whichever side of the cell is more dilute to the more concentrated side; water tries to dilute the more concentrated side.

ok I understand

thank you :)

Yes, you are correct! The cell grew in size due to the process of osmosis. Osmosis is the movement of water molecules from an area of higher water concentration to an area of lower water concentration through a selectively permeable membrane.

In this scenario, the water in the glass had a higher concentration of water molecules compared to the cell. Since water tends to move from an area of higher concentration to lower concentration, the water molecules outside the cell diffused through the cell membrane into the cell.

The term "hypertonic" refers to a solution with a higher solute concentration compared to another solution. In this case, the solute concentration outside the cell was higher, making the solution hypertonic to the cell. The cell, on the other hand, had a lower solute concentration and was considered hypotonic to the solute.

Through osmosis, water molecules moved from the hypotonic environment (outside the cell) to the hypertonic environment (inside the cell) until the concentration of water reached equilibrium on both sides of the cell membrane. This influx of water caused the cell to swell and grow in size.

Overall, your explanation accurately describes the process of osmosis and how it led to the growth of the cell in the given scenario. Well done!