An animal cell placed in a hypertonic solution will shrink in a process called crenation. an animal cell placed in a hypotonic solution will swell and potentially burst in a process called hemolysis.
to prevent crenation or hemolysis, an animal cell must be placed in an isotonic solution such as 0.9% (m/v) nacl or 5.0% (m/v) glucose. this does not mean that a cell has a 5.0% (m/v) glucose concentration; it just means that 5.0% (m/v) glucose will exert the same osmotic pressure as the solution inside the cell, which contains several different solutes.
a red blood cell is placed into each of the following solutions. indicate whether crenation, hemolysis, or neither will occur.
solution a: 3.21% (m/v) nacl
solution b: 1.65% (m/v) glucose
solution c: distilled h2o
solution d: 6.97% (m/v) glucose
solution e: 5.0% (m/v) glucose and 0.9%(m/v) nacl