Osmosis Experiment

Aim: To find the concentration of a potato cell cytoplasm compared to sucrose and salt. I mainly was looking to see how concentration of salt/sucrose affects the mass of the potato cores.

2) When the concentration was at 0.3M, the potato’s cytoplasm and the sucrose solution was isotonic. The concentration of the potato’s cytoplasm was having the same solute concentration as the surroundings. Therefore, there would be no net movement of materials happening.

The lab for this paper was conducted for the topic of osmosis, the movement of water from high to low concentration. Five artificial cells were created, each being filled with different concentrated solutions of sucrose. These artificial cells were placed in hypertonic, hypotonic, or isotonic solutions for a period of 90 min. Over time, the rate of osmosis was measured by calculating the weight of each artificial cell on given intervals (every 10 minutes). The resulting weights were recorded and the data was graphed. We then could draw conclusions on the lab.

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.

Three peaks are observed in Figure 1 (concentration of glucose vs. elution volume) which was expected due to the results in table 4 that show intervals of elution. The intervals of the elution are represented as peaks on the graph. The intervals are due to the glucose molecules that enter the beads of the column causing the glucose molecules to elute slowly. Two peaks are observed in Figure 2 (concentration of starch vs. elution volume), which was not expected. One peak was expected for the

The following hypothesis was made in regard to effect of the concentration gradient on the rate of diffusion: The higher the concentration gradient, the faster the rate of diffusion.

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.

When looking at the situation where we were given the unkown sucrose molarity solution within the beaker and the known sucrose molarity solutions in the dialysis bags the results turned out to be hypertonic, isotonic and hypotonic on different parts of the graph.

Minor errors include the contamination of materials, which could cause different chemical reactions and disrupt the reaction between the sodium chloride and the egg, which could skew the averages and cause the whole data set to be incorrect. This could be improved by using brand new equipment for each round of the experiment, which would ensure that no contamination has occurred. Various equipment could be calibrated incorrectly, which would create an unreliable data set. This could be improved by having every group use the same equipment or check the measurements multiple times with different beakers, balances and stopwatches. All of these random errors could be detrimental to the precision of the results obtained.

Osmosis is a special type of diffusion where water molecules move down a concentration gradient across a cell membrane. The solute (dissolved substance) concentration affects the rate of osmosis causing it either to speed the process up or slow it down. Based on this, how does different concentrations of sucrose affect the rate of osmosis? If sucrose concentration increases in the selectivity-permeable baggies, then the rate of osmosis will increase.

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

Osmosis is a special type of diffusion. It is the diffusion of water across a semipermeable membrane which is a membrane that is freely permeable to water but is not freely permeable to solutes, the water moves from a dilute solution to a more concentrated solution (Karp, 2010). Both diffusion and osmosis are passive transport, energy is not used in the transport. In osmosis water moves across a membrane toward the solution of greater concentration, because the concentration of water is lower there (Martini and Bartholomew., 2007).

The amount of water lost from the cell depends on the concentration of the solution in which it was placed. If only a small amount of water is lost the cell cannot remain turgid and wilting of the plant occurs. Cells which aren’t turgid are described as being flaccid.

The amount of sucrose will be manipulated by concentrating it with water. The required amount of sucrose for this experiment would be calculated using the formula: