A student is investigating the process of osmosis. She fills a medicine dropper with red blood cells. Next, she creates a saline solution that is isotonic to the red blood cells. What will most likely happen to the red blood cells after they are placed in the solution? a Water will exit the cells and cause them to shrink in size. b Water will enter the cells and cause them to grow in size. c Water will enter and exit the cells at a steady rate and their sizes will remain the same. d Water will neither enter or exit the cells and their sizes will remain the same.

Answer 1

The correct answer is d: Water will neither enter nor exit the cells and their sizes will remain the same.

When red blood cells are placed in an isotonic solution, the concentration of solutes outside the cells is equal to the concentration inside the cells. As a result, there is no net movement of water into or out of the cells, and they will maintain their size.