Plant cell plasmolysis in a strong sugar solution

An example figure from the Osmosis and Tonicity generator.

A plant cell with a nucleus and chloroplasts, its cell wall, vacuole and cell membrane labeled down the left, in a box crowded with gray sucrose particles, with water arrows pointing out across the wall, labeled Hypertonic solution, then an arrow to the same cell plasmolyzed, its membrane and cytoplasm pulled away from the wall into a rounded shape around a small vacuole, with the sugar solution filling the gap
A plant cell, 5% sucrose in its vacuole, in a 30% sucrose solution. The solution is hypertonic, so water leaves the vacuole and the cytoplasm and crosses the membrane and the cell wall. On the right the cell is plasmolyzed: the vacuole has shrunk, the membrane and cytoplasm have pulled away from the wall, and the sugar solution, which passes through the wall, fills the gap between them.

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Answer key

  • The solution is hypertonic to the cell
  • Net water movement out of the cell
  • The cell loses water and its membrane pulls away from the wall (plasmolysis)

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