Tonicity Explanation

[UnSHaVeNReaPeR]

Can someone explain tonicity for me?

I am kinda confuse. It seems to be so complicated.

[jonmoulton]

Water diffuses from where it is in higher concentration to where it is in lower concentration. If something else is present in aqueous solution, that something displaces water so the water there is in lower concentration. This makes water diffuse into areas with more solute (higher tonicity). That's the process behind osmosis.

[UnSHaVeNReaPeR]

Then what is meant by hypotonic and hypertonic environment?

[MrMistery]

http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHM ... +hypotonic

[UnSHaVeNReaPeR]

When a red blood cell is placed in distilled water, the cell is hypertonic to the water. The water is hypotonic to the cell.

What is the hypertonic and hypotonic meaning in this sentence?

[MrMistery]

there's more stuff inside the cell than outside it

[bryanwilliamz]

Tonicity is the concentration of only the solutes that cannot cross the membrane, as only these solutes exert an osmotic pressure upon that membrane. Permeant solutes do not affect tonicity; impermeant solutes do affect it.

[UnSHaVeNReaPeR]

Oh I see. Thanks!

[mlvkanth]

A sum of ion of a solution is called the tonicity of a solution