-
Asked by to Amelia, Izzy, Sarah on 19 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
-
Isabel Webb answered on 19 Mar 2014:
Water will always travel from an area with lots of water to an area with less water. This is called osmosis. The salt is an area with less water, and so draws the water out of the slug. Since slugs contain a lot of water, the salt completely dries them put and dehydrates them, so they run out of water to keep their cells alive and die.
-
-
Amelia Frizell-Armitage answered on 20 Mar 2014:
Slugs bodies are made up of a lot of water. When you put salt on the outside of a slug they die from osmosis.
Osmosis is the movement of water from an area of high water concentration to an area of low water concentration.
When salt goes on the outside of a slug you are basically reducing the water concentration on the slug surface and increasing the salt concentration. This means water from inside the slug, where water concentration is high, moves to the outside of the slug to try and increase concentration of water on the surface of the slug.
The more salt you put on the slug, the more water will move out of the slug, until eventually there is not enough water left inside the slug. The slug then shrivels up and dies from dehydration.
-
anon answered on 20 Mar 2014:
Yes, the salt effectively draws water from the slug by osmosis.
I am now wondering if a slug would expand if you put it in very very pure water? This would be an example of osmosis the other way
Comments