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Question
What is the difference between ‘flaccid’ and ‘turgid’? Give one example of flaccid condition in plants.
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Solution
The cell is said to be turgid when the plant cell wall becomes rigid and stretched by an increase in the volume of vacuoles due to the absorption of water when placed in hypotonic solution. On the other hand, the cell is said to be flaccid when the cell contents get shrunken when the cell is placed in hypertonic solution and the cell is no more tight. Flaccidity is the reverse of turgidity. Example: Weeds can be killed in a playground by sprinkling excessive salts around their base.
Or
A plant cell when immersed in hypertonic solution like salt solution for about 30 minutes will become flaccid or limp.
RELATED QUESTIONS
Explain Turgor pressure
Give scientific reasons : Balsam plants wilt during mid-day even if the soil is well watered.
Differentiate between the following:
Turgidity and Flaccidity
Give reason for the following:
A plant cell, when kept in a hypertonic salt solution for about 30 minutes, turns flaccid.
A leaf cell of a water plant was placed in a liquid other than pond water. After sometime, it assumed a shape as shown below:

- Give the term for the state of the cell it has acquired.
- Name the structure which acts as a selectively permeable membrane.
- Comment on the nature (tonicity) of the liquid surrounding the cell.
- Name any one feature of this plant cell which is not present in an animal cell.
- Redraw in the space provided, the diagram of the cell if it is soon placed in ordinary water for some time.
Give suitable biological reasons for the following statement:
Root hairs become flaccid and droop when excess fertilizers are added to the moist soil around them.
Name the following:
The condition in which the contents of a cell exert pressure against the cell wall making it distended.
Give the equivalent term for the following:
Pressure exerted by the cell contents on the cell wall.
The figure given below is a diagrammatic representation of a part of the cross-section of the root in the root hair zone. Study the same and then answer the questions that follow:

- The parts labelled as 1, 2, 3 and 4 are:
- Root hair, Xylem vessel, Soil particles, Cortex respectively.
- Xylem vessel, Soil particles, Root hair, Cortex respectively.
- Root hair, Xylem vessel, Cortex, Soil particles respectively.
- Cortex, Soil particles, Xylem vessel, Root hair respectively.
- The process that enables the passage of water from soil into the root hair is:
- Diffusion
- Active transport
- Osmosis
- Passive absorption
- The kind of force which exists between a liquid and any surface is called as:
- Cohesive force
- Adhesive force
- Capillarity
- Suction force
- The kind of force between the same kind of liquid molecules is:
- Capillary force
- Transpirational pull
- Adhesive force
- Cohesive force
- Sometimes exudation of water occurs from the margin of the leaves in the early morning or night. It is termed as:
- Transpiration
- Guttation
- Bleeding
- Osmosis
