You have two leaves, one kept in distilled water and the other kept in a saline solution (salt water). Based o

Question

You have two leaves, one kept in distilled water and the other kept in a saline solution (salt water). Based on your understanding of osmosis, in which leaf would you expect the stomata to open?

Answer 1

Distilled water.

Stomata open when the guard cells absorb water and swell up. Saline solution will cause the guard cells to collapse and the stomata to close.

Answer 2

If you think about it, not even humans can live healthily if the only water we got was distilled. 'Water' as we know it, contains a combination of trace elements which we all need. Countries which 'recycle' their water add these trace elements into the water before the water is piped into homes. If your water is well-oxygenated, the fish will not die, but you should not expect the fish to last very long on distilled water alone. There may be products in the shops that may just require you to add a few drops during each water change if you cannot help but use distilled water. Check out your local petstore.