Question

Given figure represents demonstration of osmosis by egg membrane osmoscope. After a few days, which of the following would have occurred?

A. A rise in level X and a drop in level Y
B. A drop in level X and drop in level Y
C. A rise in level X and a rise in level Y
D. A drop in level X and a rise in level Y

Answer 1

Osmosis refers to the diffusion of water across a differentially permeable or semipermeable membrane selectively allows the movement of a solvents while restricting the movement of solutes.

Complete answer:
Osmosis involves the passive movement of water from a region of its high concentration to a region of its lower concentration, water will move into a funnel as pure water has the highest concentration of water and addition of any solute only decreases its concentration.
This continuous movement of water from beaker into the funnel will result in the rise in the level of sucrose solution. This will continue until the equilibrium is reached. The egg cell membrane is a natural semi permeable membrane.
In the above figure the water from the beaker goes to funnels by egg membrane and the process is called endosmosis where there is an increase in X level and decrease in the Y level of the beaker.

Endosmosis is a process by which water or the solvent will move inside the cell. It will occur when the water potential of the outside environment is greater than that of the inside environment.
In endosmosis, the solute concentration in the outside environment will decrease in comparison to cytosol. Hence the movement of water is against the concentration gradient. The water enters the cell via a semipermeable membrane. As more water is taken from the external environment, the cell will swell and become turgid. The water potential is higher in the solvent outside the cell.
When cells are kept in hypotonic solution endosmosis takes place as the cells may swell.

Hence, the correct answer is option (A).

Note: Endosmosis is a type of passive transport where the water moves from outside medium to inside of the cell. In a hypotonic solution the concentration of the solvent is higher in the outside medium and solute concentration is higher inside the cell due to which turgidity increases. The swelling of resins when kept in water is the most common example of endosmosis.