Elodea in saltwater?

Question

Elodea normally lives in fresh water. What changes would you observe in the cells of an
Elodea plant that was suddenly moved from freshwater to saltwater? Why?

Answer 1

The cells of the plant will shrink. Plasmolysis.

Salt water has a higher concentration of ions (salt) than fresh water.  

Osmosis is the movement of water from an area of low salt to an area of high salt (or put another way, from an area of high water concentration to one of low water concentration).

The Elodea plant which normally lives in low salt now finds itself in high salt.  Water will move OUT of the plant, moving from low salt to high salt. This is plasmolysis. The cell membrane pulls away from the cell way.