Question

The phenomenon wherein the osmotic pressure created due to presence of solutes inside and outside the cells will be equal is referred to as ________

(a) isotonic condition

(b) hypertonic condition

(c) hypotonic condition

(d) osmotic shock

I had been asked this question by my school principal while I was bunking the class.

This interesting question is from Extraction of Enzymes by Chemical Methods topic in section Enzyme Extraction and Isolation of Enzyme Technology

Answer 1

Right answer is (a) isotonic condition

For explanation I would say: Isotonic condition is the phenomenon wherein the osmotic pressure created due to presence of solutes inside and outside the cell will be equal. In hypertonic condition, the water molecules will move out due to osmosis and the cell cytosol will shrink. In case of hypotonic condition, the water molecules from outside will move inside the cell which leads to bulging of cytosol and then bursting. Osmotic shock is technique which uses these two above conditions to extract enzymes from cells.