Water will move out of a plant cell if it has a higher water potential (concentration) than the surrounding environment. Water will leave the cell, leading to equilibrium — at which time, water movement into and out of the cell is happening at the same rate.

Cells with a cell wall will swell when placed in a hypotonic solution, but once the cell is turgid (firm), the tough cell wall prevents any more water from entering the cell. When placed in a hypertonic solution, a cell without a cell wall will lose water to the environment, shrivel, and probably die.

Water moves across cell membranes by diffusion, in a process known as osmosis. Osmosis refers specifically to the movement of water across a semipermeable membrane, with the solvent (water, for example) moving from an area of low solute (dissolved material) concentration to an area of high solute concentration.

Pure water has the highest concentration of water molecules. Therefore, it has the highest water potential. When some solute is dissolved in water, the water potential of pure water decreases.

The water potential of pure water in an open container is zero because there is no solute and the pressure in the container is zero. Adding solute lowers the water potential. When a solution is enclosed by a rigid cell wall, the movement of water into the cell will exert pressure on the cell wall.

Hence, pure water has highest water potential.

If flow is not restricted, water will move from an area of higher water potential to an area that is lower potential. A common example is water with a dissolved salt, such as sea water or the fluid in a living cell. These solutions have negative water potential, relative to the pure water reference.

A hypotonic solution has higher water potential. membrane due to the loss of water pressure due to the osmotic potential gradient of a surrounding hypertonic solution.

(d) Which solution has a higher solute potential? Ans: A- chamber solution. Reason: Refer NCERT page no 179, “the more the solute molecules, the lower is the solute potential“. It means, if, the number of solute molecule is less than that solution have more solute potential.

Water potential is a measure of the potential energy in water as well as the difference between the potential in a given water sample and pure water. Solute potential (Ψs) decreases with increasing solute concentration; a decrease in Ψs causes a decrease in the total water potential.

Solute potential (Ψs), also called osmotic potential, is negative in a plant cell and zero in distilled water. The internal water potential of a plant cell is more negative than pure water because of the cytoplasm’s high solute content. …