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Why do red blood cells appear smaller after being exposed to a hypertonic starch solution?

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User Caps
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1 Answer

3 votes

Water moves out of the red blood cell to the surrounding starch solution as the water potential of the starch solution is lower than the water potential of the red blood cell. The water moves across the red blood cell's membrane by osmosis which is the net movement of water molecules from a region of higher water potential to a region of lower water potential through a partially permeable membrane.
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User KRouane
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9.0k points
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