The Effects of Varying, Extreme Temperatures and Varying Organic Solvents on a Beet Root Cell Membrane

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.

The use of multiple test tubes and Parafilm was used for each experiment. Catechol, potato juice, pH 7 phosphate buffer, and stock potato extract 1:1 will be used to conduct the following experiments: temperature effect on enzyme activity, the effect of pH on enzyme action, the effect of enzyme concentration, and the effect of substrate concentration on enzyme activity. For the temperature effect on enzyme activity, three test tube were filled with three ml of pH 7 phosphate buffer and each test tube was labels 1.5 degrees Celsius, 20 °C, and 60 °C. The first test tube was placed in an ice-water bath, the second test tube was left at room temperature, and the third test tube was placed in approximately 60°C of warm water. After filling the test tubes with three ml of the

Aim: The aim of the experiment is to test the effect temperature has on the activity of the enzyme rennin.

The purpose of these experiments is to examine the driving force behind the movement of substances across a selective or semiperpeable plasma membrane. Experiment simulations examine substances that move passively through a semipermeable membrane, and those that require active transport. Those that move passively through the membrane will do so in these simulations by facilitated diffusion and filtration. The plasma membrane’s structure is composed in such a way that it can discriminate as to which substances can pass into the cell. This enables nutrients to enter the cell, while keeping unwanted substances out. Active

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.

Prediction: By exposing a membrane to a solvent, ethanol, it will increase its permeability. So the higher the concentration of the solvent, the more permeable the membrane will be. But if the concentration of the ethanol is beyond a certain limit, it may break down the cell membrane to the point where there is in fact no overall effect as the ethanol would disturb the lipids in the membrane.

The cell membrane (Plasma membrane) functions to provide cell support, cell stability and control entry and exit of materials from the cell. This study was conducted to test the effects of environmental conditions such as the on beet root cell membrane (Beta vulgaris). Five trials using varied pH concentrations were tested and absorbance rates were monitored. The experimental results showed that the protein function decreased sequentially when the pH decreased. This allowed the betacyanin dye to leak out which created the color that was needed to determine the intensity and therefore the effect of the circumstances. This supported the hypothesis that the more acidic or basic the environmental condition around the beet cell, the more permeable the, membrane indicated by color intensity. Pigment leakage in the solution was analyzed by using a spectrophotometer.

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.

A major determinant of diffusion in a biological system is membrane permeability. Small, uncharged molecules pass through cellular membranes easily, while most and/or charged molecules cannot pass through the membrane. The movement of water across a selectively permeable membrane, like the plasma membrane

The structure of the phospholipid bilayer is a 2-layer arrangement. Basically, the phospholipid bilayer has 2 ends. One end is hydrophilic (attracted to water); therefore, the opposite end is hydrophobic and repels water. The hydrophilic ends face outwards and the hydrophobic ends face inwards. This experiment enables researchers to investigate how the cell membrane selectively chooses what cells to enter the cell through osmosis and diffusion. Within osmosis, it’s a process of what substance passes and exits the semipermeable membrane into a higher concentration to equal the outside and the inside. Unlike osmosis, diffusion is the movement of molecules transporting from a high concentration to

The aim of my investigation is to see how pH affects the activity of potato tissue catalase, during the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to produce water and oxygen.

A cell needs to perform diffusion in order to survive. Substances, including water, ions, and molecules that are required for cellular activities, can enter and leave cells by a passive process such as diffusion. Diffusion is random movement of molecules in a net direction from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration order to reach equilibrium. Diffusion does not require any energy input. Diffusion is needed for basic cell functions - for example, in humans, cells obtain oxygen via diffusion from the alveoli of the lungs into the blood and in plants water

Cell membrane is a selective boundary composed of a unique phospholipid bi-layer structure consisting of lipids, proteins and carbohydrates. This structure regulates the import and export to maintain homeostasis condition inside the cell. (Knox et al., 2014) The plasma membrane is referred as a fluid mosaic which also has selective permeability. The permeability of the membrane can be varied depending on the external conditions. (Mitchel, 2015)

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