Turgor Pressure and Wall Pressure in Plants

Turgor Pressure and Wall Pressure

When a plant cell is placed in pure water (hypotonic solution) the diffusion of water into the cell takes place by endosmosis. It creates a positive hydrostatic pressure on the rigid cell wall by the cell membrane. Henceforth the pressure exerted by the cell membrane towards the cell wall is Turgor Pressure (TP).

The cell wall reacts to this turgor pressure with equal and opposite force, and the counter-pressure exerted by the cell wall towards cell membrane is wall pressure (WP).

Turgor pressure and wall pressure make the cell fully turgid.

TP + WP = Turgid.

Activity

Find the role of turgor pressure in sudden closing of leaves when we touch the ‘touch me not’ plant.