Osmosis? Help!!?

Question

If a red blood cell was put into very salty water what would it look like and explain what has happended in terms of osmosis.

This is a question in my homework and every answer i find i cant undersatnd! Can someone put it simply for me please?

Answer 1

A red blood cell would have a higher water concentration than very salty water would have.

In osmosis, water goes from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration. So more water would go out of the red blood cell into the salt water than the other way around. This would cause the red blood cell to shrink and stop working correctly.

The salt water is hypertonic for the red blood cell.