Red blood cells that are bathed in blood neither shrink nor swell and burst. If the concentration of blood is 0.5 m, what could be the concentration of the cytoplasm of red blood cells

Answer: The concentration of the cytoplasm of red blood cells will be 0.5m.

Explanation: Red blood cells that are bathed in blood neither shrink nor swell and burst because the concentration of the surrounding blood is equal to the concentration inside the cytoplasm of the red blood cells. This means that the two solutions are isotonic. Since the two solutions are isotonic, there will not be movement of water molecules across the red blood cell membrane. Osmosis do not occur between two solutions of equal concentration, for osmosis to occur water molecules must move from a region of high water concentration to a region of low water concentration through a selectively permeable membrane.