Do plants like to be hypertonic or hypotonic?
Plants thrive in hypotonic environments. Their cells have rigid cell walls that prevents bursting, or lysis. The pressure of the cytoplasm against the cell wall keeps the plant from wilting and losing its shape. This pressure is called turgor pressure or osmotic pressure.
In a hypertonic solution, a cell with a cell wall will lose water too. The plasma membrane pulls away from the cell wall as it shrivels, a process called plasmolysis. Animal cells tend to do best in an isotonic environment, plant cells tend to do best in a hypotonic environment.
Plant cells need hypotonic solutions to maintain homeostasis. Plant cells have a thick cell wall made of cellulose and contain an organelle called a vacuole that is used to store water. When plant cells are placed in a hypotonic solution, which has less solute compared to the plant cell, water rushes in.
Plant cells fare best in hypotonic solutions. This is because when plant cells are full of water, they push against each other to form the basic support structure for the plant and allow it to stand upright. Plant calls full of water are known as turgid cells; they exert turgor pressure on each other.
A cell placed into a hypertonic solution will shrivel and die by a process known as plasmolysis. An isotonic solution is any external solution that has the same solute concentration and water concentration compared to body fluids.
If a plant cell is placed in a hypertonic solution, the plant cell loses water and hence turgor pressure by plasmolysis: pressure decreases to the point where the protoplasm of the cell peels away from the cell wall, leaving gaps between the cell wall and the membrane and making the plant cell shrink and crumple.
When a cell is kept in a hypotonic medium, the cells take up water from external medium and swell up. In plant cells, the cell membrane creates a pressure against the cell wall, which exerts an equal pressure against the swollen cell but do not burst.
When a plant cell is placed in a hypotonic solution, water will flow by osmosis from the solution into the plant cell. This causes the cell to expand or swell. Since the cell wall is very rigid, it keeps the cell from bursting.
In a hypotonic solution, plant cells will swell and the turgor pressure will push against the cell wall. The presence of the cell wall will prevent the plant cell from bursting, which is what happens to animal cells when they're placed in a hypotonic solution.
Plant cells swell up when kept in hypotonic solution because plant cells absorb large amounts of water in hypotonic solution such that the vacuole is completely filled with water and the cytoplasm presses against the cell wall. But it does not get burst due to the presence of cell wall.
What type of solution is best for plant cells?
In the case of a plant cell, however, a hypotonic extracellular solution is actually ideal. The plasma membrane can only expand to the limit of the rigid cell wall, so the cell won't burst, or lyse.
Complete answer: Methylene blue: Methylene blue is a common laboratory stain and is used for many different types of cells. 1.

What type of osmotic solutions do plant and animal cells prefer? Plant cells prefer hypotonic environments and animal cells prefer isotonic environments.
Hypertonic solutions have higher osmotic pressure and therefore they have higher concentration. When a plant cell is kept in hypertonic solution, plant cell loses water and therefore the plant cell gets shrinked.
A hypertonic solution contains a high concentration of the solute compared to the solvent molecules. Which basically means, the water molecules are more inside the cell, than in the solution. So, the water molecules within the cells diffuse out and the solute molecules move in, making the cell shrink.
When a plant cell is placed in a hypertonic solution, what occurs? Water inside the cell (highest concentration) moves out of the cell (lowest concentration), causing the plant cell to shrink and the plant to wilt. The plant wilts because there is a loss of turgor pressure.
In fact, the cytoplasm in plants is generally a bit hypertonic to the cellular environment, and water will enter a cell until its internal pressure—turgor pressure—prevents further influx. Maintaining this balance of water and solutes is very important to the health of the plant.
Answer and Explanation: Nothing happens to a plant cell in an isotonic solution. This is because there is no net movement of water between the cell and the solution and thus the volume of the plant cell remains constant.
In a hypotonic solution, an animal cell will fill with too much water and lyse, or burst open. However, plant cells need more water than animal cells, and will not burst in a hypotonic solution due to their thick cell walls; hypotonic solutions are ideal for plant cells.
If animal and plant cells are kept in a hypotonic solution then endosmosis will occur. Endosmosis is a process in which the water molecules move from outside of the cell of lower solute concentration to the inside of the cell of higher solute concentration through the cell membrane or cell wall.