Question

What happens when dry apricots are left for some time in pure water and later transferred to the sugar solution?
A. Dry apricots first swell due to endosmosis and then shrink due to exosmosis
B. Dry apricots first shrink due to endosmosis and then shrink due to exosmosis
C. Dry apricots first swell due to exosmosis and then shrink due to exosmosis
D. Dry apricots first swell due to endosmosis and then swell due to exosmosis

Answer 1

Hint: The endosmosis is the process in which the water moves inside the cells and they swell, whereas, in exosmosis, the water moves out of the cell causing it to shrink.

Step by step answer:The pure water is a hypotonic solution. This is because as compared to apricots the concentration of the solution is more in the pure water. Apricots have comparatively a higher concentration of solutes in them. By osmosis, the water always moves from its higher concentration to lower concentration. This means that water will move from pure water to inside of the cell. This is known as endosmosis. Endosmosis is made up of two words, Endo meaning inside, and Osmosis. Due to the movement of water inside the cell, it swells up. When swelled apricots are left for some time in sugar solution.
The sugar solution is hypertonic. This is because as compared to apricots the concentration of the solution is less in the sugar solution. Apricots have comparatively a lesser concentration of solutes in them. By osmosis, the water always moves from its higher concentration to lower concentration. This means that water will move from inside of the cell to the sugar solution. This is known as exosmosis. Exosmosis is made up of two words, Exo meaning outside, and Osmosis. Due to the movement of water outside the cell, it shrinks up.
Thus, when dry apricots are left for some time in pure water then they swell due to endosmosis, and later when they are transferred to the sugar solution, they shrink due to exosmosis.
Hence, the correct answer is option (A).

Note: Osmosis is a special type of diffusion process in which the solvents can move from their higher concentration to their lower concentration through a semipermeable membrane. It can also be defined as the movement of water from a less concentrated solution to a more concentrated solution through the semipermeable membrane. Osmosis is of two types – endosmosis & exosmosis.