A red blood cell is placed in a hypertonic solution. This means the concentration of solutes in the solution is __________ than the concentration of solutes in the intracellular fluid and will cause the cell to _

Question

a. lower; shrink
b. higher; swell
c. lower; burst
d. higher; shrink
e. lower; swell

Answer 1

In a hypertonic solution, the concentration of solutes outside the cell is higher than the concentration of solutes inside the cell (intracellular fluid). This causes water to move out of the cell to balance the solute concentrations, leading the cell to shrink.

So, the correct answer is:

d. higher; shrink