Explain the meaning of the statement: "Tonicity is only useful as a comparative term."

Biology · High School · Sun Jan 24 2021

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Explanation : Tonicity is the ability of a solution to affect the fluid volume and pressure in a cell. If a solute cannot pass through a plasma membrane, but remains more concentrated on one side of the membrane than on the other, it causes osmosis.”  

The ability of an extracellular solution to make water move into or out of a cell by osmosis is known as its tonicity. Tonicity is a bit different from osmolarity because it takes into account both relative solute concentrations and the cell membrane's permeability to those solutes . 

Thus tonicity is only useful as a comparative term.

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