Factors Affecting the Movement of Water Through Osmosis

• I also tried to ensure that each tuber was dried in the same way, but this proved to be very difficult. It was important to only remove the solution from the surface because we did not want to remove any water from the cells which would affect the mass of the tubers.

Part B: How will the molarity of sucrose solution outside the root vegetable affect the percent change in mass of the root vegetable after being left in the solution for about 48 hours?

First, we estimated the osmolarity of potato tuber cells by measuring the change in the potato’s’ weight after they were incubated in various concentrations of sucrose solutions (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6 M). First, we obtained 100mL of distilled water, and 100mL of each sucrose solution-which we placed in separate 250mL beakers. We then used a cork borer to extract 7 cylinders of potato. We then cut them all to about 5 cm long, and removed the skin from the ends. We placed all seven potato samples in a covered petri dish so they would not dry out. For consistency, we assigned each person their own, separate task to perform to each potato cylinder. First, one person removed the potato cylinder from the petri dish and used a paper towel to blot. Then

Osmosis is the movement of water across the membrane from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. The osmosis continues until the solute concentrations are equal in both areas. In this experiment, we put pieces of potatoes into test tubes with sugar solutions of different concentrations and leave them there over night. It was done in order to compare the initial mass of the pieces and the ones after being placed into the solute concentration. Pieces which were placed into a hypotonic (lower) concentration of solute should increase in

If I am to figure out the estimated concentration of sucrose found naturally inside the potato using osmosis, then there will be a change in the mass of the potato because it will either be hypotonic or hypertonic to the cell, as it will affect the size of the cell along with in. The 0 M, 0.2 M, and 0.4 M solutions were are hypotonic to the cell. Hence, they contained less solute than the potato itself. Therefore, the potato cell increased in mass because water was moving into the cell. It was more concentrated had less water in comparison with outside the cell, so it moved in. However, the 0.6 M, 0.8 M, and 0.10 M solutions were hypertonic to the cell, causing the potato cell to decrease in mass as water was moving out of the cell. There was

Osmosis is the passive movement of water from an area of low solute concentration to an area of high solute concentration, normally across a membrane which prevents the movement of solvent. This is a process by which materials may move into, out of, or within cells. Osmosis doesn’t depend on energy provided by living organisms but is affected by the properties of the cell membrane. The rate of osmosis is dependent on such factors as temperature, pressure, molecular properties such as size and mass, and the concentration gradient. In osmosis, the relationship between a solute’s concentration outside of cell and inside of a cell is described in terms of the tonicity of the solution outside of the cell. A cell is in a hypotonic solution when the solute is more concentrated inside the cell and therefore water moves into the cell. In this solution the cell swells as water enters, this may continue until it ruptures or hemolyzes. In the reverse condition, the cell is in a hypertonic solution

Hypothesis: I think that the potato will absorb more starch than the sweet potato and they will both absorb relatively similar amounts of water.

5. Explain the trends observed in the group’s data: The trends showed that with distilled water the mass increased within a time range which showed that osmosis was taking place so the cell were rigid and the weight of the potato increased then it started decreasing in mass which shows that it started losing water but then after 25mins it regained its rigidity by absorbing more

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.

Either the solution is hypotonic which means that the solution has a lower concentration than the potato core and this would cause water to flow into the potato and make it larger and therefore increase its mass. The state the cell is in is called turgid.

Osmosis is when water passes through a cell membrane, it is also form of a diffusion, which is a form of passive transport. Osmosis will continue to until an equilibrium is reached which is when the solutions are isotonic. This means that the solution has the same amount of solute on both sides. If the solution is hypertonic, it has more solute in the solution. In this situation water will move towards it. if the solution is hypotonic, it has less solute in the solution. Whereas in this situation, water will move out of the solution.

8. Use the plastic forceps to remove the potato cylinders from the beakers (keep them together in the same group), and blot off the excess solution weight on them with the paper towels.

This experiment was used to examine the hypothesis that: Osmosis is dependent on the concentrations of the substances involved.

First I gather all my materials needed for the experiment (see materials list). Second I peel and slice potatoes weigh each potato in grams. Get these slices to weigh the same in mass because if they vary to much in mass that could affect the results of the experiment. Third I place each potato in its own beaker. Fourth once the potatoes are placed in beakers I make sure to place enough solution to fully cover the potato. Each beaker should have a different amount of

If the solution contains only sucrose then the osmotic pressure will increase substantially. This would represent a hypotonic solution because more water molecules are entering the cell meaning the solution contains no invertase. If the osmotic pressure has a slight increase than the solution contains sucrose and invertase due to the rate of the sucrose being broken down, however the cell will overtime begin to shrink. If the osmotic pressure remains close to the same than the solution contains no sucrose, containing only water and invertase. We predicted that because the height of the fluid in the osmometer tubing was increasing only a little bit our blue solution was hypertonic and contained invertase and sucrose. The invertase was able to break down sucrose into glucose and fructose which were small enough to be able to leave the cell membrane. This would reflect a hypertonic solution. We predicted this would cause the cell to shrink in size and the height of the fluid would never increase.