Lab Question- Urgent

[madman1611]

Hey, guys. New to this board. Seems like a cool place to meet other biology likers! Here's a question (it's mini thinking lab question): "You can restore wilted flowers or vegetables by soaking them in water. From your knowledge of osmosis, would it be better to soak them in distilled or tap water"? Explain.
Can someone please give me a brief explanation as to which would be better. iHave no clue. lol

[mith]

You might want to read up on osmosis and water potential.

[biology_06er]

Hey there

Usually I don't answer questions cos I'll be most likely wrong...and if I am then can someone please correct me..

osmosis=the movement of water from an area of high water conc. to an area of low water conc. across a semi-permeable membrane..so seeing as you want water to be soaked up from the solution of water you put the flowers in then the water conc. should be high..this means that there should be less osmotically active particles present which is the case in distilled water which has all their ions removed--hence the answer is use distilled water...however while I'm writing this I'm thinking people who are really into gardening and stuff do they use distelled water as I'm pretty sure the lady who use to come around to our house to do our garden never used distilled --which could mean my post is all wrong!

biology_06er

[mith]

Distilled is also more expensive, think watering the lawn with $5/gallon Evian.

[biology_06er]

hmmm good point......

[Darby]

Osmotically, pure water kind of makes sense, but if you've ever bought flowers, you use a solution to transfer them to a vase and reestablish the vascular water. No idea why.

[biology_06er]

If I drink distilled water instead of tap water will my cells burst?

[mith]

....you have a urinary tract for a reason.

[Dr.Stein]

Flowers can be preserved much longer when the stalk is soaked in coconut water, and their colors will stay bright!

[biology_06er]

so basically if a human being's cells swell or shrink are causes of this stuff like membrane proteins not working properly or having to much sugar solutions?