An animal cell that is surrounded by fresh water will burst because osmotic pressure causes...
A. water to move into the cell
B. water to move out of the cell
C. solutes to move into the cell
D. solutes to move out of the cell
Osmosis deals with the movement of water across a membrane. This fact rules out c and d. Water.moving out wouldn't cause it to burst. This rules out b as well.
The correct answer is A. water to move into the cell.
Explanation:
When a cell is surrounded by fresh water, which is a hypotonic solution, the concentration of solutes in the water is lower than the concentration of solutes inside the cell. As a result, water molecules tend to move from an area of lower solute concentration (outside the cell) to an area of higher solute concentration (inside the cell) through a process called osmosis.
During osmosis, water molecules move across a semi-permeable membrane, such as the cell membrane, to balance the solute concentration on both sides. In this case, since the solute concentration is higher inside the cell compared to outside, water will move into the cell, causing it to swell and potentially burst.
Therefore, osmotic pressure in a hypotonic solution like fresh water causes water to move into the cell, leading to cell bursting.