The Effects of Salt on Potatoes

You can literally watch a potato die of thirst just by adding salt. It is all thanks

to a process called osmosis, where water acts like it has a mind of its own.

Basically, water always rushes through cell membranes to go where the party is,

meaning anywhere with high concentrations of salt or sugar. If you drop a potato slice in fresh water,

it sucks everything up and gets super crunchy. But drop that same slice in salt water,

and the moisture inside the potato rushes out to join the salt. The potato ends

up limp and squishy because its cells just collapsed, which is exactly why drinking ocean

water is a terrible idea.