Question

Strawberry jelly is a very strong solution of sugar. By contrast the cytoplasm in a bacteria is a much weaker solution. The cell wall of a microbe surrounds a semi-permeable membrane. Would water flow from the microbe to the jam, or from the jam to the microbe by osmosis

Answer 1

Water will flow from the microbe to the jam in osmosis due to the higher solute concentration of the jam compared to the cytoplasm of the bacteria.

Step-by-step explanation:

In osmosis, water diffuses across a semipermeable membrane from an area of lower solute concentration to an area of higher solute concentration. In this case, water would flow from the microbe to the strawberry jam. The strawberry jam is a very strong solution of sugar, creating a high solute concentration compared to the weaker solution in the cytoplasm of the bacteria. Therefore, water will move from the bacteria to the jam, equalizing the concentrations on both sides.

Answer 2

Water would move from the bacteria to the strawberry jelly by osmosis because the jelly has a higher concentration of solutes than the cytoplasm of the bacteria.

Step-by-step explanation:

Osmosis in Cells

When considering the flow of water by osmosis between strawberry jelly, which is a strong sugar solution, and the cytoplasm of a bacterium, which is a weaker solution, we can deduce that water would move from the region of lower solute concentration to the region of higher solute concentration to equalize osmotic pressure.

Since the cytoplasm of a bacteria has a lower concentration of solutes compared to strawberry jelly, osmosis would cause water to flow from the bacteria to the strawberry jelly.

This phenomenon occurs because the cell wall and plasma membrane serve as barriers that protect the cell from its surrounding environment. In this scenario, the semi-permeable membrane of the bacteria allows water to pass through but prevents solute molecules from doing the same.

Due to the bacteria's environment being hypertonic relative to its cytoplasm—because strawberry jelly has a higher concentration of sugars—the tendency is for water to leave the bacterial cell. This can lead to its dehydration and potential death, which is the principle behind using high concentrations of sugar or salt in food preservation.