Practice Questions on Concentrations, Diffusion and Osmolarity:

1. How much KCl would you need to make 250 mls of a 100 mM KCl
solution? (Mol. Wt. of KCl is 74.5)
A.
B.
C.
D.

1.86
3.72
5.58
7.45

g
g
g
g

2. How much glucose is there in 200 mls of a 0.5% solution? (Mol. Wt.
of glucose is 180).
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

0.5 g
0.9 g
1g
2g
5g

3. What is the approximate percentage concentration of a 1 M solution

of NaCl (Mol. Wt. of NaCl is 58.5).
A.
B.
C.
D.

0.58%
5.8%
58.5%
585%

4. You dissolve 25 g of glucose in 150 mls of water. What is the final

concentration of glucose in M? (Mol. Wt. glucose is 180).
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.

0.05 M
0.1 M
0.33 M
0.6 M
0.9 M
1M

5. You dissolve 25 g of glucose in 150 mls of water. What is the

approximate final concentration of glucose in %? (Mol. Wt. glucose
is 180).
A.
B.
C.
D.

5%
12%
17%
20%

6. You are asked to give a patient a 500 ml I.V. solution of 5% glucose

in 0.45% saline. You are given an I.V. bag containing 500 mls of
0.45% saline and a large glass ampoule containing sterile 10 M
glucose. Approximately how much of the glucose solution do you
need to add to the 0.45% saline to get the correct final
concentration of glucose? (Mol wt. of glucose is 180).
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

5 mls
14 mls
25 mls
32 mls
45 mls

7.
What is the approximate osmotic strength of a 100 mM solution
of glucose?
A.
B.
C.
D.

25 mOsm
50 mOsm
100 mOsm
150 mOsm

8. What is the approximate osmotic strength of a 150 mM solution of

calcium chloride?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

150
250
350
450
600

mOsm
mOsm
mOsm
mOsm
mOsm

9. What is the approximate osmotic strength of a buffer containing the

following salts: 135 mM NaCl, 5 mM KCl, 10 mM glucose, 25 mM
NaHCO3?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

175
340
450
575
750

mOsm
mOsm
mOsm
mOsm
mOsM

10. Which of the following responses is true or false regarding

diffusion?
A.

Net flux is a linear function of membrane area.

B.

Net flux is a linear function of the concentration difference of the

solute across the membrane.

C.
Net flux is directly proportional to the thickness of the
membrane.
11. A pharmaceutical company is marketing a new formulation of
insulin to treat diabetes. Which of the following properties of this
new drug will most likely increase its absorption?
A. It has a higher partition coefficient than current formulations
B. It is available in lower doses
C. It has been coupled to a carbohydrate molecule increasing its
molecular size
D. It has been coupled to a molecule to increase its net surface
charge
12. What will happen to the net flux of a solute across a cell
membrane if the permeability is doubled, but the concentration
gradient is halved?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

It
It
It
It
It

will
will
will
will
will

double
increase by a factor of four
stay the same
decrease by a factor of two
decrease by a factor of four

13. Assuming complete dissociation, which of the following solutions

will have the greatest osmotic strength?
A.
B.
C.
D.

150 mM glucose
80 mM NaCl
90 mM Na2SO4
210 mM urea

14. Assuming complete dissociation, what is the approximate

osmolality of an aqueous solution containing 100 mM NaCl, 100 mM
glucose and 20 mM CaCl2?
A.
B.
C.
D.

240
260
320
360

mOsm/kg
mOsm/kg
mOsm/kg
mOsm/kg

15. If the cell membrane of a red blood cell is permeable to glycerol

and the osmolality of the contents of red blood cells is 286
mOsm/kg water, what would happen to red blood cells if they were
placed in a solution of 286 mM glycerol? The cells would:
A.
B.
C.
D.

Shrink and stabilize at reduced volume

Shrink for a while and then return to their original volume
Neither shrink nor swell
Swell and eventually burst

16. Given that the cell membrane is freely permeable to glycerol,

and that the osmolarity of the contents of red blood cells is 300
mOsm/l, a solution of 300 mM glycerol is:
A.
B.
C.
D.

Isotonic and isosmotic to red cells

Isotonic but not isosmotic to red cells
Isosmotic but not isotonic to red cells
Neither isotonic not isosmotic to red cells.

17. If a 5 liter solution with 20 osmoles of sucrose (A) is separated

from a 2 liter solution with 10 osmoles of sucrose (B) by a

membrane permeable to sucrose, in which direction will net

movement of water occur?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

From solution B to solution A

From solution A to solution B
To solution B and then back to solution A
To solution A and then back to solution B
There will be no net movement of water

18. If a 5 liter solution with 20 osmoles of sucrose (A) is separated

from a 2 liter solution with 10 osmoles of sucrose (B) by an ideal
membrane, in which direction will movement of water occur?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

From solution B to solution A

From solution A to solution B
To solution B and then back to solution A
To solution A and then back to solution B
There will be no net movement of water

19. In error a patient is infused with a large volume of a solution that

caused his red cells to lyse. Which of the following was the most
likely solution used?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

300
150
450
300
270

mM
mM
mM
mM
mM

mannitol
NaCl
mannitol
urea
glucose

20. Human red blood cells are placed into a large volume of each of
the following solutions:
a. 150 mM NaCl
b. 150 mOsM NaCl
c. 400 mOsM KCl
d. 400 mOsM NaCl
e. 300 mOsM NaCl + 300 mOsM glycerol
f. 300 mOsM glycerol

Draw a graph showing the predicted changes in volume of the

cell with time for each condition.

Volume of red
(as % of
normal)

200%

cell

100%

10
Time (mins)

ANSWERS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10A
10B
10C

A
C
B
E
C
B
C
D
B
F
T

11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
19.

A
C
C
D
D
C
E
18.
D

20.
(F)
200%

(B)
(A)

100%

Volume of RBC
(as % of normal)

(E)
(C, D)

10

Minutes