OSMOSIS
Aim
To determine the water potential of potato tuber cells.
Background knowledge
Osmosis is defined as the movement of water molecules from a region of higher water potential to a region of lower water potential through a partially permeable membrane. Osmosis is considered in terms of water potential and solute potential.
Water potential is a measure of the kinetic energy of water molecules. Here, water molecules are constantly moving in a random fashion. Some of them collides with cell membrane, cell wall, creating a pressure on it known as water potential. The higher their kinetic energy the more they move and hits the membrane, therefore higher the water potential. Water potential also depends on the number of molecules of
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If the solution surrounding a cell has the same solute concentration as the cell then water will pass equally between them. When a solution has the same solute concentration as the cell then it is described as isotonic.
Starch is insoluble in water because it is formed when many monosaccharide condense together to form long chains. As it is long chain polymers and complex carbohydrates, the bonds which hold them together are hard to be broken down by water. Therefore starch is insoluble in water. Sucrose is soluble in water because it is a disaccharide sugar. These sugars are formed when two hexose sugar molecules react together by condensation reaction. When water is added in this sugar, it is broken down into hexose sugar (small unit), as bonds holding the disaccharide sugar are spitted up by water.
Preliminary Work
I did an experiment using sweet potato and sucrose solution. I measured the change in length and the change in mass of the sweet potato. The results are shown below:
The table below shows the volume of water and sucrose solution used to make dilutions
Concentration
(M)Volume of sucrose (ml)Volume of water (ml)Total volume
(ml)
0 0100100
0.22080100
0.44060100
0.66040100
0.88020100
1.01000100
Length change
Concentration (M)Length at start (mm)Length at end (mm)Change in length(mm)Length change (%)
0303226.67
0.23029-1-3.33
0.4303000.00
The concept of osmotic pressure must be understood when studying osmosis. The movement of water from a hypotonic solution through the membrane into a hypertonic solution can be prevented by applying force or pressure on the hypertonic side. The force that must be applied to prevent osmotic movement of water from hypotonic to hypertonic, measured in atmospheres, is referred to as osmotic pressure. Solutions with greater concentrations of OAS have greater osmotic pressures because greater force is required to prevent water movement into them. Distilled water has an osmotic pressure of zero.
How do different concentrations of sucrose solutions (0M, 0.2M, 0.4M, 0.6M, 0.8M, 1M) affect the mass of potato cores when in sucrose solution?
The difference is that along with large molecules, living cells prevent molecules with positive charges and solubility. This is not representing in dialysis tubing, and is only found in living cells because the tubing is only based on molecular size (98). When referring the rate of diffusion, the concentration gradient influences the diffusion rate, based on the factors of temperature. The ability for molecules diffuse from high to low concentrations primarily depends on the concentration gradient between the two areas.(96-99). My hypothesis for the study is that in the hypotonic, hypertonic, and isotonic solutions, the direction and rate of osmosis will determine based on the concentration inside the dialysis tubing. My prediction is that if the solution is hypotonic the results will decrease, if the solution is hypertonic the results will increase and if the solution is isotonic the solution will vary and or remain constant.
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
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
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
Water potential is the measure of potential energy in water, or the difference in potential energy between a water sample and pure water. According to Kosinski (2015), white potatoes are an experimentally favorite subject for the determination of water potential in plant tissue. In our lab we use a procedure called “change in weight” method, which was published by Meyer and Anderson in 1935. Where we use potato cores to explain and show
The diffusion across a cell membrane is a process of passive and spontaneous net movement of small lipophilic molecules. The molecules move from a high concentration to a low concentrated region along the concentration gradient. The result being a point of equilibrium, this is where a random molecular motion continues but there is no longer any net movement. However, there are things that can affect the rate of diffusion, these being temperature, surface area, concentration, size of the molecule, permeability, diffusion distance and concentration difference. Osmosis is a type of diffusion as it is the movement of water molecules through a semipermeable membrane into a region of higher solute concentration. Equilibrium is reached when the solute concentration is equal on both sides. Water potential is measured in kiloPascals, it is the measuring of the concentration of free water molecules that are able to diffuse compared to pure water, which is 0 kilopascals. It is a measure of the tendency of free water molecules to diffuse from one place to another. The result being, the more free water molecules, the higher the Water Potential. However, Water potential is affected by two factors: pressure and the amount of solute.
Cells are always in motion, energy of motion known as kinetic energy. This kinetic energy causes the membranes in motion to bump into each other, causing the membranes to move in another direction – a direction from a higher concentration of the solution to a lower one. Membranes moving around leads to diffusion and osmosis. Diffusion is the random movement of molecules from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration, until they are equally distributed (Mader & Windelspecht, 2012, p. 50). Cells have a plasma membrane that separates the internal cell from the exterior environment. The plasma membrane is selectively permeable which allows certain solvents to pass through
All cells contain membranes that are selectively permeable, allowing certain things to pass into and leave out of the cell. The process in which molecules of a substance move from an area of high concentration to areas of low concentration is called Diffusion. Whereas Osmosis is the process in which water crosses membranes from regions of high water concentration to areas with low water concentration. While molecules in diffusion move down a concentration gradient, molecules during osmosis both move down a concentration gradient as well as across it. Both diffusion, and osmosis are types of passive transport, which do not require help.
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.
In conclusion when the molarity level was at 0 and at .2 the potatoes had gained mass so therefore they were placed in a hypotonic environments. When the molarity level was .4 and above the potatoes loss mass so therefore they were placed in hypertonic environments. So the different in concentrations does change the mass of the potatoes because they determine the osmosis environments.
The hypothesis is that when cells are put in a solution with a different water potential than inside of them, cells will gain or lose water. If concentration of solution is the same, there will be no change in mass.
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
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.