There are many factors that affect plant growth, including the salts and minerals in their water supply. A farmer wants to find the right concentration of mineral solution to use with his sunflower crop. He places five sunflowers in a beaker of 1 M mineral solution, five sunflowers in a beaker of 0.5 M mineral solution, and five sunflowers in a beaker of 0.2 M mineral solution. a) Calculate the solute potential of a 0.5 M mineral solution at room temperature (25⁰C). A sample sunflower has a solute potential of -28 bars within its cells. (Note: i =ionization constant = 1.0) Determine the direction water will flow between the sunflower and its environment.

b) Once equilibrium is reached between sunflower and the environment, calculate the turgor pressure inside the plant cell.