| 2012 | | Toby Rheinberger
Lab Partner: Jeremy Saba |
[The Effect of surface area to volume ratio and solute concentration on osmosis.] | The aim of this experiment was to test the effect of surface area on osmosis and the effect of solute concentration on osmosis. To test this aim to hypotheses were devised. 1) If potato pieces are immersed in various salt solutions, then the pieces with the greatest surface area to volume ratio will experience the greatest weight change, because more water can move by osmosis across the potato cell’s semi permeable membrane. 2) If potato pieces are immersed in various salt solutions, then the pieces immersed in the most concentrated solution will experience he greatest weight change,
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A semi permeable membrane. (Biology at Aveson , 2007)
Figure 2. A semi permeable membrane. (Biology at Aveson , 2007) pass through the membrane and into the cell.
Despite its importance osmosis may also damage cells by causing them to; a) shrink from water loss or b) burst from too much water gain. Plant cells [fig 3] have adapted themselves to ensure that these factors do not affect them, by forming a ridged wall, known as the cell wall, around their cells. The cell wall maintains the shape of the cell, and prevents the cell from bursting in a hypotonic medium by resisting water pressure. Plant cells have also adapted a larger vacuole, which occupies 80% or more of the cells cytoplasm (Davidson, 2004); allowing plants to store more water and nutrients per cell. Vacuoles also play a structural role in plant cells; by swelling when liquids contact them, plant vacuoles are able to control turgor pressure within the cell. This helps maintain the structural integrity of the cell as well as providing the plant with suitable amounts of water and nutrients; however the cell will never burst because the vacuole is contained within the cell wall. If plant cells are deprived of water their vacuole will begin to shrink, yet due to the cell the wall, the plant cell will be able to maintain its shape. [fig.4] Animal cells [fig 5] on the other hand do not have this
My prediction is that as the concentration increases, the potato cell will lose more weight. This is because of the osmosis of water particles from the potato cell cytoplasm to the solution, resulting in a loss of weight. As the concentration decreases, the potato will lose less weight until a certain point where the osmosis of particles in and out of the potato cells will be equal. I also predict that as the salt
The main purpose of the experiment was to test the idea that water would move from the higher concentration to the lower concentration. In order to test this theory, we placed potato slices in 7 different containers, each containing different concentrations of NaCl, to measure the weight change from osmosis. The containers ranged from 0M NaCl all the way to .6M NaCl. We measured the potato slices before and after placing the slices in the solutions and recorded the net change in weight to determine the tonicity of the potato cells. Our results showed that the potato slices put in a NaCl solution of .2M or higher lost weight and the potato slices put in a NaCl solution of .1M or lower gained weight. This shows that the osmolarity of the potato falls within the range of .1M to .2M, and it also proves the process of Osmosis by having the higher concentration move to the lower concentration. In addition to this, it can be concluded that the osmolarity of cells can be determined by observing the affects of osmosis.
Human Genome Project The Human Genome Project is an international project basically sponsored by the U.S Government. It started in October 1990 with an aim to sequence the entire human genome. The complete set of information present in the form of the genes in an organism forms its genome. Each human being has 23 pairs of chromosomes having DNA double helix in each.
Osmosis is the diffusion of water across a membrane to create an equilibrium between the levels of concentration of a solute both inside and outside the cell. In this case the solute will be sugar as the potato core will be immersed in sucrose solution.
Using my knowledge of osmosis, I intend to construct an experiment to determine this. I know that water can pass both in and out of potato cells in order to equate water concentration in the cell sap with water concentration in the surrounding solution. Surely then, if water concentration levels both inside and outside of a potato cell are already equal, osmosis is no longer necessary, and as it is passive but has no incentive to occur without osmotic potential, it will not. On the other hand, when placed in a solution of unequal water concentration a potato cell will lose or gain water and weight as a
Osmosis is defined as the tendency of water to flow through a semipermeable membrane to the side with a lower solute concentration. Water potential can be explained by solutes in a solution. The more positive a number is more likely it will lose water. Therefore should water potential be negative the cell the less likely it will lose water. In using potatoes the effects of the molarity of sucrose on the turgidity of plant cells. According to Clemson University, the average molarity of a White potato is between .24 M and .31 M when submerged in a sorbitol solution. This experiment was conducted with the purpose of explaining the relationship found between the mass in plants when put into varying concentrations of sucrose solutions. Should the potatoes be placed in a solution that contains 0.2M or .4M of sucrose solution it will be hypotonic and gain mass or if placed in .6M< it will be hypertonic and lose mass instead. Controlled Variables in this lab were: Composition of plastic cups, Brand of Russet Potatoes, Brand of Sweet Potatoes and the Temperature of the room. For independent variable that caused the results recorded it was the different Sucrose concentrations (0.0M, 0.2M, 0.4M, 0.6M, 0.8M, 1M). The dependent variable was the percentage change from the initial weighs to the final. The cup with .4 molarity was the closest to an isotonic solution and was used as the control group for the lab. Water potential is the free energy per mole of water. It is
Van’t Hoff’s Law suggests that the osmotic potential of a cell is proportional to the concentration of solute particles in a solution. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if there are any differences between the osmolalities, the no-weight-changes of osmolalities, and the water potentials of potato cores in different solutions of different solutes. The percent weight change of the potato cores was calculated through a “change in weight” method. The potato core’s weight was measured before and after they were put into different concentrations of a solute for 1.5 hours. In our experiment, there were no significant differences from the osmotic potentials of our results and the osmotic potentials of other scientists work. Ending with chi square values of 2.17 and 2.71, and p values of 0.256 and 0.337, concluding that there is no difference in water potentials of potato cores in different solutions of different solutes at varying concentrations.
In conclusion, the potato cube with the highest surface area to volume ratio (the 1x1x1 cube) had the fastest rate of diffusion as it had the largest percentage increase in mass. While all the other cubes of potato had larger increases in mass at face value compared to the smallest cube, the smallest cube had the largest overall gain in percentage. The results support my hypothesis that the smallest cube will have a higher rate of osmosis because it has a proportionally larger amount of surface area compared to its volume.
The aim of the sixteenth of November experiments was to observe how three different solutions with various sucrose concentration influenced osmosis in relation to three onion cells and the impact on the cells structure.
Effect of Sucrose Solution on Osmosis Aim: The aim of the experiment is to show how varying the concentration of sucrose solution affects osmosis by changing different molar solutions of sucrose and water and how it affects the potato. Introduction: In this investigation I will be exploring the effect of varying concentration of sucrose sugar solution on the amount of activity between the solution and the potatoes. Osmosis is the movement of water molecules across a partially permeable membrane from a high water concentration to a low water concentration.
Showing an example of diffusion with the water molecules equally back and forth the semi-permeable membrane of the potatoes and the saucer of water. The hypertonic solution of salt water has given an example of osmosis. The water molecules passed through the semi-permeable membrane out of the potatoes but weren’t able to get back in as easily due to the salt blocking the membranes passage. This left the potatoes in the salt water saucer feeling flexible and spongy almost leaving the potato a little
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
Plant cells react differently to osmosis than animal cells. When an animal cell is placed in a hypertonic solution, water will leave the cell causing it to shrink, this is known as crenation. When a plant cell is placed in a hypertonic solution the cell membrane will pull away from the cell wall, making the plant flaccid, this is known as plasmolysis. When an animal cell is placed in a hypotonic solution, water will rush in to the cell, causing it to swell and sometimes burst. A plant cell placed in a hypotonic solution will also swell due to water rushing in, but will resist rupturing due to the rigid cell wall. Plant cells become more rigid in a hypotonic solution.
The way to get the full results of this lab was through the process of osmosis. Osmosis is the movement of water across a membrane into a more concentrated solution to reach an equilibrium. When regarding cells osmosis has three different terms that are used to describe their concentration. The first of these words is isotonic. Cells in an isotonic solution show that the water has no net movement and the amount of water that goes in is the same that goes out. Isotonic comes from the root iso, which means equal. This makes sense because the definition of isotonic is: same concentration. The second out of three words is hypotonic. Cells in a hypotonic
Data: Effect of Solute Concentration on Osmosis in Potato Cells (for the 6 groups of our class)