What is Osmosis and How does osmosis affect plant cells?
Osmosis is the movement of water from an area of high water concentration to an area of low water concentration across a semipermeable membrane. In plant cells, the semipermeable membrane is the cell membrane. The cell membrane allows water molecules to pass through, but it does not allow dissolved substances to pass through.
When a plant cell is placed in a solution that has a higher concentration of dissolved substances than the cell, water will move out of the cell by osmosis. This is because the water molecules will move from an area of high water concentration (inside the cell) to an area of low water concentration (outside the cell). As water moves out of the cell, the cell will shrink. This is called plasmolysis.