Q. What does a vacuole?
Vacuoles are storage bubbles found in cells. They are found in both animal and plant cells but are much larger in plant cells. Vacuoles might store food or any variety of nutrients a cell might need to survive. They can even store waste products so the rest of the cell is protected from contamination.
Q. What would happen to a paramecium if its contractile vacuole stopped working?
If the paramecium was not able to contract its contractile vacuole, it would be in danger of bursting. The cell would not be able to hold too much water. This would happen faster if the paramecium was in water with a low salt concentration because there is more water and less salt, so the water would accumulate faster.
Q. What happens when you add salt to paramecium?
Water would collect inside the paramecium and it would burst because the cell wouldn’t be able to hold all of the water. It would occur more rapidly if the paramecium were in water with a low salt concentration because the water would accumulate quicker then if it were in a high salt solution.
Q. What do you predict will happen to a freshwater paramecium placed into a salt water environment?
The cell would not be able to hold too much water. This would happen faster if the paramecium was in water with a low salt concentration because there is more water and less salt, so the water would accumulate faster.
Q. What would happen if a salt water paramecium is transferred to freshwater pond?
a saltwater para mission when transferred to a freshwater pond will die due to the bursting of the cell. Explanation: in case of a saltwater paramoecium there is the presence of higher amount of solutes in the contractile vacuoles of the organism.
Q. Can elodea live in saltwater?
The Elodea plant which normally lives in low salt now finds itself in high salt. Water will move OUT of the plant, moving from low salt to high salt. This is plasmolysis. The cell membrane pulls away from the cell way.
Q. What would happen to the cells of a saltwater plant if the plant were placed in freshwater?
When animal cells are put in salty water, water diffuses/moves out of the cell and the cell shrivels up. When plant cells are put in fresh water, water diffuses/moves into the cell and fills up the central vacuole. If you put a salt water crab in fresh water its cells would burst because water would keep moving in.
Q. Does Plasmolysis occur in animal cells?
Most animal cells consist of only a phospholipid bilayer (plasma membrane) and not a cell wall, therefore shrinking up under such conditions. Plasmolysis only occurs in extreme conditions and rarely occurs in nature.
