Question

Cell viability is dependent upon its ability to maintain water balance. Hypothetically, what happens when a person is stranded on a boat without fresh water, and drinks water from the ocean? Include the terms osmosis, water, salt, and hypertonic in your response.

Answer 1

The cells are able to maintain the inter fluid balance through a process called osmosis ( if two solutions of different concentration are separated by a semipermeable membrane then water tends to move through the membrane in the direction of the solution of higher concentration). The cell membrane acts as a semi-permeable membrane i.e it allows only water molecules to pass through it but not the solute molecules.

When a man drinks salt water, the concentration of solute increases outside the cell as saltwater is hypertonic ( a solution that has a greater concentration of solutes on the outside of a cell when compared with the inside of a cell) for human cells. To maintain equilibrium in concentrations , water molecules goes out of the cell causing the cells to shrink . A huge water loss from cells can damage the cells severely or even be fatal .