If a swimmer cuts his foot on a seashell while wading in the ocean and bleeds into the seawater, his erythrocytes will shrink. What does this tell us about the relative tonicities of the solutions?

A) The ocean is hypertonic to the erythrocytes.

B) The erythrocytes are hypertonic to the ocean.

C) The erythrocytes are isotonic to the ocean.

D) The cell membrane is not permeable to seawater.

Question

Biology

Joanna Crane

22 July, 19:31

If a swimmer cuts his foot on a seashell while wading in the ocean and bleeds into the seawater, his erythrocytes will shrink. What does this tell us about the relative tonicities of the solutions?

A) The ocean is hypertonic to the erythrocytes.

B) The erythrocytes are hypertonic to the ocean.

C) The erythrocytes are isotonic to the ocean.

D) The cell membrane is not permeable to seawater.

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Answers (1)

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Raphael Vargas · Answer 1

Answer:A) The ocean is hypertonic to the erythrocytes.

Explanation:cells shrink when placed in an hypertonic solution.

This shrinkage occurs does to the movement of water out of the cell and through the cell membrane. this phenomenon is called plasmolysis.

The movement of water out of this cell occurs through osmosis. osmosis is the movement of water from a region of high concentration of solute to a region of low concentration of solute, through a semi-permeable membrane.

In this case, sea water has a higher concentration of solute (hypertonic) and the blood cells has a lower concentration (hypotonic). the cell membrane serves as the semi-permeable membrane and and a result water moves out of the cell