Describe and explain the effect of placing a plant cell into pure water.

Explanation:

Plant cells are enclosed by a rigid cell wall. When the plant cell is placed in a hypotonic solution, it takes up water by osmosis and starts to swell, but the cell wall prevents it from bursting. The plant cell is said to have become ‘turgid’, i.e. swollen and hard. The pressure inside the cell rises until this internal pressure is equal to the pressure outside. This liquid (or hydrostatic pressure called ‘turgor pressure’) prevents the further net intake of water.

Turgidity is very important to plants as it helps with the maintenance of rigidity and stability of plant tissue and, as each cell exerts a turgor pressure on its neighbor, it creates plant tissue tension which allows the green parts of the plant to ‘stand up’ into the sunlight.