when a personin the hospital is given fluid intravenously (an I.V), the fluid is typically a saline (salt) solution with about the same water concentration as human body tissues. how does the use of distilled water in the place of this salinr solution would be expected to upset the patient's homeostasis. how does this refer to the process of diffusion?
2006-10-11 08:04:13 · 5 answers · asked by coming4yu17 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
I expect it would lower the amount of salt in their body, thereby reducing their blood pressure. That's just my guess though, I dont have a medical background.
2006-10-11 08:06:00 · answer #1 · answered by Annette J 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Annette hit the nail on the head. But with diffusion, since distilled water is more hypertonic than the cells in our body, the water, by osmosis, would diffuse into the cells causing them to swell, therefore upsetting the homeostasis
2006-10-11 15:13:41 · answer #2 · answered by good answers bad questions 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The last person is correct, but i have an addition. Once the cells, like Red blood cells swell, they will burst. Without functioning cells like red blood cells, the bodies ability to deliever oxygen to the tissues is interrupted.
2006-10-19 12:58:04 · answer #3 · answered by Rebecca A 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe that distilled water has a very different concentration that salt water. That's why it is "distilled" - > has none of the salt impurities.
2006-10-11 15:08:00 · answer #4 · answered by nor2006 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
hypo or hypertonicity that is the question
the osmotic gradient would be upset put sea water in the cells would shrink fresh(or distilled) the cells would lyse
2006-10-19 14:34:35 · answer #5 · answered by RHD ! 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋