A patient has had a serious accident and lost a lot of blood. In an attempt to replenish body fluids, distille

Question

The patient's red blood cells will shrivel up because the blood fluid is hypotonic compared to the cells.

It will have no unfavorable effect as long as the water is free of viruses and bacteria.

The patient's red blood cells will shrivel up because the blood fluid is hypertonic compared to the cells.

The patient's red blood cells will swell because the blood fluid is hypotonic compared to the cells.

The patient's red blood cells will burst because the blood fluid is hypertonic compared to the cells.

Answer 1

The patient's red blood cells will swell (and likely burst) because the blood fluid is hypotonic compared to the cells.

Answer 2

Water always rushes to the side of semi-permeable cell membrane with a higher concentration of Sodium to dilute it. Distilled water will cause the cells to swell OR burst depending on the differential Sodium concentration. It's not enough to know the answer but to understand the science behind it.... otherwise you learn nothing. The method the body uses to alter this norm is by using an ion pump to go against the flow. Neurons and nephrons in your kidneys are examples of cells that do this.

Adding distilled water makes the blood fluid "hypotonic" . Hypo  a Latin prefix meaning "lower". Adding more salt free fluid to fluid that contains Sodium lowers the concentration per ml.

Hyper a Latin prefix that means "above". A hypertonic solution is one that has more electrolyes than normal. One would accomplish this by adding solution that was higher than 0.9% Na Cl to the blood. This would cause the cells to shrink since the fluid in the blood cells would migrate across the membrane to dilute the higher Sodium concentration.