Capillary Action Lab

The hydrostatic pressure (or blood pressure) and osmotic pressure (water pressure) are responsible for balancing and creating the movement of fluid across the capillary wall.

Blood pressure and water pressure (osmotic) are responsible for creating the movement of fluid across the capillary wall.

The higher the water potential in one location compared to another location, will cause the water and molecules to move from the high potential to the low water potential.

As it can be seen in the reaction above that water is required in the process of photosynthesis, another thing which can be seen that in the reaction above is that plants need water to produce glucose. Plant gets its water from roots. The Water moves from the dirt into the plants ' roots hair. This occurs by a process called osmosis. Osmosis is the unconstrained net development of dissolvable atoms through a semi-penetrable membrane into an area of higher solute fixation, in the course that has a tendency to even up the solute fixation on the two sides. As I said above that osmosis draws

Attraction between water molecules which allows insects and other objects to float a top the water

Diffusion is defined as the movement of molecules from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. The diffusion of water molecules through a semi-permeable(selectively permeable) membrane is osmosis. Semi-permeable means that some molecules can move through the membrane while others can not. Diffusion and Osmosis are passive forms of transport requiring no energy. Active Transport utilizes energy in the form of ATP. Water is a solvent that can dissolve a number of substances more than any other substance. Wherever water goes, through the ground or a body, it takes along valuable molecules. Water’s chemical composition causes it to be attracted to many different molecules and be attracted so strongly it disrupts the forces and dissolves it. Water can pass through the semipermeable membrane without any help but can change the solution, on the other side of the cell membrane, depending on how much it diffuses in and out.

The objective of this experiment is to develop an understanding of the molecular basis of diffusion and osmosis and its physiological importance. Students will analyze how solute size and concentration affect diffusion across semi-permeable membranes and how these processes affect water potential. Students will also calculate water potential of plant cells.

A plant can control its turgor pressure through its central vacuole and cell wall. If a great amount of water is inside the cell, the central vacuole will take in some of the water to take some of the pressure of the cell wall. The cell wall can also eliminate water from making its way into the cell. The would cause the cell to keep expanding, but slowly eliminate its excess

Diffusion, osmosis and active transport of substances in and out of the membrane is very important for all types of cells. One example is the root hair cell. These cells are the exchange surface in plants which are responsible for the absorption of water and mineral ions so without osmosis and active transport this would not be possible. The water is taken up by osmosis through the partially permeable membrane. The root hair cells are surrounded by a soil solution which contains small quantities of mineral ions but mainly water, so has a high water potential (slightly less than zero). The root hair cells themselves contain a high quantity of amino acids, mineral ions and sugars inside them (low water potential). Therefore water will move by osmosis from the soil solution and into the root hair cells, going down the water potential gradient.

6) Will water move into or out of a plant cell if the cell has a higher water potential than the surrounding environment? Water will move out of the plant cell because it will follow the gradient to the area of lower water potential.

(Click Slide) Due to adhesion, capillary action occurs in plants. Water absorbed from the roots sticks to the walls of xylem vessels in plants, and cause an upward motion. Sometimes, you may see that when you wet a paper towel, the water quick travels up the towel. Capillary action occurs when adhesive forces are stronger than cohesive forces.

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.

Water diffuses across the membrane from the region of lower solute concentration (higher free water concentration) to that of higher solute concentration (lower free water concentration) until the solute concentrations on both sides of the membrane are equal. The diffusion of free water across a selectively permeable membrane, whether artificial or cellular, is called osmosis. The movement of water across cell membranes and the balance of water between the cell and its environment are crucial to organisms. ("Diffusion And Osmosis - Difference And Comparison | Diffen"). A semi-permeable membrane known as the cell membrane surrounds the living cells of both plants and animals. Both solute concentration and membrane permeability are taken into account in the ability of a cell to gain or lose water. If there is a higher concentration of solutes in the surrounding solution, water will tend to leave the cell, and vice versa. The membrane forms a selective barrier between the cell and its environment and does not allow toxic substances from the surroundings to enter into the cell (Deena T Kochunni). The selective permeability allows the cell to regulate the flow of necessary substances into and out of the cell. In plants osmosis is also responsible for absorbing water and minerals from the soil by using the semipermeable membrane of the root (Deena T Kochunni). If the extracellular fluid has a lower osmolarity than the fluid inside the cell, it’s said to be

Plants rely on receiving their nutrients and water through soil. This is able to be done by a special kind of diffusion, called osmosis. Osmosis is when fluid passes through a semipermeable membrane to an either low or high concentration separating the two solutions. These high and low concentrations, will consists of having solute in each. Water will pass through the membrane, until each side is equal in concentrations. Although

Osmosis is the movement of water molecules from high concentration to low concentration through semipermeable membranes, caused by the difference in concentrations on the two sides of a membrane (Rbowen, L.). It occurs in both animals and plants cells. In human bodies, the process of osmosis is primarily found in the kidneys, in the glomerulus. In plants, osmosis is carried out everywhere within the cells of the plant (World Book, 1997). This can be shown by an experiment with potato and glucose/salt solution. The experiment requires putting a piece (or more) of potatoes into glucose or salt solution to see the result of osmosis (a hypertonic type of solution is mostly used as it would give the most prominent visual prove of