Cells deal with some tough situations when they are in different types of solutions. Let’s break it down:

Hypotonic Solutions

• In this situation, water flows into the cell.
• As a result, the cell can swell up and might even burst.
• This can cause damage and make the cell not work properly.
• To fix this, cells can use special structures called contractile vacuoles to get rid of the extra water.

Hypertonic Solutions

• Here, water leaves the cell.
• This causes the cell to shrink.
• Losing water like this can mess up what the cell does, and it could even die.
• To handle this, cells might take in water from their surroundings or change what’s inside them to keep things balanced.

Isotonic Solutions

• This is the best case! In isotonic solutions, water goes in and out of the cell at the same rate.
• It helps the cell keep its shape.
• But, if the environment changes too quickly, it can be hard for the cell to stay balanced.
• Therefore, cells need to react quickly when conditions change to keep everything in order.