Investigating the Effect of Temperature on the Permeability of the Cell Membrane of Beetroot

The cell membranes are the utmost essential organelle that surrounds all living cells. Its purpose is to control what goes in and out of the cells and is accountable for the various other properties of the cells as well. The nucleus and other organelles also have membranes that are practically indistinguishable. Membranes are organised in a mosaic arrangement, comprised of carbohydrates, proteins and phospholipids. This can be seen in Figure 1. The objective of this indirect examination is to study the causes of various solvents and conducts on live beetroot cells. The reason why beetroot cells have been selected for this experiment is because they have a big membrane-bound central vacuole, as seen in Figure 2. The red colour anthocyanin, which provides the beetroot its bright colour is located in the vacuole. The cell membrane encloses the whole beetroot cell. The anthocyanin cannot leak out if the membranes stay unharmed. The red colour can escape if the membranes are hassled or broken.

I know that osmosis will occur in the vegetables, but I am not sure of

Purpose: To determine the concentration of solute in the potato’s cytoplasm by measuring the change

Aim: To investigate how effect of Detergent Concentration (cont.) has on Membrane permeability of Beetroot cells. Hypothesis: I predict that as detergent concentration increases, the solution will become less clear, plus mass increases. The increases in mass will indicate that the water potential of the Beetroot cell is lower than that of the surrounding sucrose solution. The Beetroot discs will become flaccid and decrease in mass if the water potential of the surrounding solution is lower than the water potential inside the beetroot cell.

Hypothesis: To investigate the effect of different concentrations of ethanol on the permeability of beetroot cell membranes.

Change in pH concentrations increases permeability of beetroot (‎Beta vulgaris) cell membranes indicated through color intensity using the spectrophotometer

12. For standard water temperature was conducted in such a way that the test tube with Hydrochloric Acid was placed inside the water to sit until the Hydrochloric Acid adjusted to the temperature of the water.

The purpose of this experiment was to alter the cell membrane of the beets, in a given fashion, so that we can test how much betacyanin was able to cross the cell membrane of the beet through various treatment. In which after we would test the absorbance level of each treatment, run it through excel and observe which treatment was most effective at getting betacyanin through the cell membrane more.

The Effect of Temperature on the Permeability of Beetroot Membrane Analysis The graph shows the colorimeter readings increase as the temperature increases, they increase by the most at higher temperatures. This is shown by a smooth curve. This means that the beetroot samples release more dye at higher temperatures.

4.Measure 35mL of warm water and add them into each of the 4 test tubes at about roughly the same time. It is essential that the water is warm. Do not seal the test tube.

Thus it forms holes, disrupting the membrane of the beetroot core which essentially prevents the betacyanin pigment from leaving the cell. Also, when exposed under heat, the cholesterol, glycolipids and phospholipids expand, putting pressure on the membrane from inside. The lipid part of the membrane will become liquid, making it open to leakage. The proteins in the membrane will denature, increasing the permeability in the surface. The combination of vibrating molecules and a denaturing membrane would disrupt the organized structure of the membrane. And eventually with a disrupted membrane, betacyanin pigment in the innermost compartment will leak out.

out the potato and dry it to ensure excess water is not added to the

The aim of this investigation was to determine the effect of ethanol on the membrane permeability using Beta vulgaris. Beta vulgaris contains red pigments called betalain sequestered in vacuoles. The cell membrane is generally impermeable to betalain as this pigment is relatively large and cannot pass through the membrane by diffusion. (123HelpMe.com, 2015) However, by increasing the permeability of the cell membrane, betalain can leach out of the cell and colour the liquid red. The colour intensity of the solution due to leakage of betalain is proportional to the membrane permeability. To quantify the colour intensity, the light absorbance of the solutions containing a Beta vulgaris cube were measured by a spectrophotometer. These measurements were used to analyse the membrane permeability. (Flinders University, 2015)

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

Data: Effect of Solute Concentration on Osmosis in Potato Cells (for the 6 groups of our class)