Bio. Lab. Report - Membrane Transport

Cells and molecules in the environment are constantly moving and changing, for cells to function properly there is a need for equilibrium to be met. The size of the cell and the solution outside of the cell affects the rate of diffusion and osmosis in the cell. Cells are constantly trying to reach an equilibrium with the molecules and substances around it, which is why there are such terms as: hypertonic, hypotonic and isotonic. The procedures allowed testing of whether or not surface area or volume increased diffusion and how different substance control diffusion. Cells are constantly moving to reach equilibrium through diffusion and osmosis.

Explain what happened to the blood cells at the various levels of concentration. Be sure to refer to the solutions as being hypotonic, hypertonic and isotonic.

In this lab experiment, half our group observed and measured osmosis using dialysis tubes that were represented as the semipermeable membrane. It is permeable to water and other small molecules but is impermeable to larger molecules such as the sucrose solution used in each of the four beakers and tubing. The other half of our group observed the tonicity of sheep blood to determine whether the blood was isotonic, hypotonic, or hypertonic. The 85 g/dL of NaCl solution was the ideal isotonic number in relation to the sheep blood cells as well as a reference to the other observations of the solutions.

Blood is a non-Newtonian fluid that contains many components. One such component is red blood cells. Due to the red blood cells having the tendency to clump together at low velocities, calcium chloride was added in order to cause a thrombus formation. The blood used in this experiment was sheep’s blood.

Osmosis is described in one of three ways when comparing more than one solution. The cell’s external and internal environment helps determine tonicity, which is defined as how the cell reacts to its environment. When the cell’s environment is equal in osmolarity to itself and there is no change, it is considered an isotonic solution. When the environment has a higher osmolarity, shrinkage occurs and it is considered a hypertonic solution. When the environment has a lower osmolarity, swellings occurs and it is considered hypotonic.

- A hypotonic environment would be created in the body fluid, as there would be a lower concentration of solutes outside of the cell than inside the cell. This would create the effect of water entering the cells at an abnormal rate, and the cells, eventually, would burst.

Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to familiarize you with osmosis and, specifically, what happens to cells when they are exposed to solutions of differing tonicities.

The procedure of this lab is to determine if liver and potato cells contain natural buffers that resist large change in pH as 1. NaCl or 1. NaOH are added to the solution.

Finally, it could also be a hypertonic solution which is when there is a higher concentration of solute in the solution than in the cell and therefore the water leaves the cell. This make the cell plasmolyzed or “shrunken”. In our experiment this means that the potato cell would

The concentration of dissolved substances is less in the extracellular fluid than in the cytoplasm. Hypotonic Solution Concentration of dissolved substances (solute) Concentration of water (solvent) What happens to an animal cells? Inside the cell Greater Less Outside the cell Less Greater Membrane

The difference is that along with large molecules, living cells prevent molecules with positive charges and solubility. This is not representing in dialysis tubing, and is only found in living cells because the tubing is only based on molecular size (98). When referring the rate of diffusion, the concentration gradient influences the diffusion rate, based on the factors of temperature. The ability for molecules diffuse from high to low concentrations primarily depends on the concentration gradient between the two areas.(96-99). My hypothesis for the study is that in the hypotonic, hypertonic, and isotonic solutions, the direction and rate of osmosis will determine based on the concentration inside the dialysis tubing. My prediction is that if the solution is hypotonic the results will decrease, if the solution is hypertonic the results will increase and if the solution is isotonic the solution will vary and or remain constant.

The observation under the microscope of a cell of an onion skin soaked for 15 minutes in distilled water showed that the cell membrane was pressed against the cell wall. The cell

However one beaker received 100 mL of Deionized water with a molarity of 0.0. Afterwards a cork borer was pushed through the potato and was twisted back and forth. Once the borer was filled it was removed from the potato. Pushing the potato cylinder out of the borer, this this step was repeated six more times in order to get seven undamaged potato cylinders. Using a sharp razor blade, the potato cylinders were both cut to a uniform length of about 5cm, and were removed of their potato skins. The potato pieces were also cut in half to give the cells a greater surface area in which it was easier to absorb the solution. After the cylinders were weighed on a balance and the data was recorded in Table 4. Using the razor blade each potato was cut lengthwise into two long halves. Then the potato pieces were transferred to the water beaker and the time they were submerged was recorded. This step was repeated for all potato cylinders in which the pieces were placed in solutions 0.1 to 0.6 M. The potatoes were incubated for ninety minutes. At the end of the incubation period the time was recorded. Then the potato piece was removed form the first sample. Next potato pieces were weighed the and the final weight was recorded in Table 4. This procedure was repeated until all samples had been weighed and recorded in the chronological order they were initially placed in the test solution. Afterwards the table was completed by recording the

In osmosis, the flow of the water from or to a cell depends on whether the cell is immersed in a solution that is isotonic, hypotonic, or hypertonic to the solution. If the cell is isotonic to a solution, this means that the solute concentration of a cell and its environment is the same and therefore there will be no movement of water. If the solute concentration is lower than that of the cell, then water will flow into the cell, causing it to expand. If the solute concentration is lower than that of the cell then water will flow out of the cell, causing it to shrink.

Half of each tube’s contents are poured into a new test tube each respectively after the tubes are incubated for 1 hour. One set of tubes is tested for: