Question

The cell wall is permeable and not a semipermeable structure can be best deduced from the passage of water and mineral salts from
A. Soil into periplasmic space of root hairs
B. Root hairs to cortical cells
C. Cortical cells to pericycle
D. Pericycle to the trachea

Answer 1

Hint: Every plant cell contains a cell wall that defines the shape of the cell and the main function of the cell wall is to protect the cell from the outer environment.

Complete answer: A plant cell has an outer layer called the cell wall that is responsible for the shape of the cell. After that, it has a cell membrane also known as the plasma membrane. Periplasmic space is the space between the cell wall and cell membrane. Inside the cell membrane, there is cytoplasm fluid containing other essential cell organelles. It has a nucleus that holds the genetic material of the cell. The cell wall of a plant cell is made up of cellulose, a linear polymer of glucose. The cell wall is freely permeable and allows almost all kinds of nutrients inside the cell like water, nutrients, etc. It is a rigid wall that protects the cell whenever needed. Whenever the cell absorbs any nutrients from the surrounding the cell wall allows passage of all substance which gets collected in periplasmic space. Further, the cell membrane is semipermeable, i.e. it does not allow passage of all substances.
Hence, the correct answer is option A.

Note: Not all cells have cell walls, i.e. animal cells do not have a cell wall. Only plant cells, bacterial cells and fungal cells contain the cell wall as it requires protection from the external environment. Plants and fungus do not move and need extra protection, on the other hand, bacteria live in extreme conditions, hence require the cell wall.