Question

Prior to the invention of refrigeration, meat was often preserved by soaking it in brine (a solution of water with a high concentration of salt) to kill any microorganisms that might have tried to use the meat as their own food source. Which of the following BEST explains how a brine solution could be lethal to those microorganisms?

Answer 1

Water would move out of the cells of the microorganisms by osmosis and the cytoplasm would become dehydrated, keeping solutes from diffusing within the cells.

Answer 2

Water would move out of the cells of the microorganisms by osmosis and the cytoplasm would become dehydrated, killing the cells.