Elodea Plant Osmolarity Lab Report

Osmosis is described in one of three ways when comparing more than one solution. The cell’s external and internal environment helps determine tonicity, which is defined as how the cell reacts to its environment. When the cell’s environment is equal in osmolarity to itself and there is no change, it is considered an isotonic solution. When the environment has a higher osmolarity, shrinkage occurs and it is considered a hypertonic solution. When the environment has a lower osmolarity, swellings occurs and it is considered hypotonic.

The main purpose of the experiment was to test the idea that water would move from the higher concentration to the lower concentration. In order to test this theory, we placed potato slices in 7 different containers, each containing different concentrations of NaCl, to measure the weight change from osmosis. The containers ranged from 0M NaCl all the way to .6M NaCl. We measured the potato slices before and after placing the slices in the solutions and recorded the net change in weight to determine the tonicity of the potato cells. Our results showed that the potato slices put in a NaCl solution of .2M or higher lost weight and the potato slices put in a NaCl solution of .1M or lower gained weight. This shows that the osmolarity of the potato falls within the range of .1M to .2M, and it also proves the process of Osmosis by having the higher concentration move to the lower concentration. In addition to this, it can be concluded that the osmolarity of cells can be determined by observing the affects of osmosis.

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.

Measure 500ml of tap water in the 500cm3 beaker, then measure 5g of sodium hydrogen carbonate using the 50cm3 beaker and weight scale and place in the beaker of water, using the glass rod to dissolve it into the mixture.

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

As a result, if an animal cell were placed in pure water, it would eventually burst. This is because the membrane alone is not enough to support a turgid cell. For this reason I will use plant cells in my experiment. Method The aim of this experiment is to work out the water concentration of cell sap in potato cells.

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.

_An experiment on the effect of surface area to volume ratio on the rate of osmosis of Solanum tuberosum L._

The aim of the sixteenth of November experiments was to observe how three different solutions with various sucrose concentration influenced osmosis in relation to three onion cells and the impact on the cells structure.

Plant cells react differently to osmosis than animal cells. When an animal cell is placed in a hypertonic solution, water will leave the cell causing it to shrink, this is known as crenation. When a plant cell is placed in a hypertonic solution the cell membrane will pull away from the cell wall, making the plant flaccid, this is known as plasmolysis. When an animal cell is placed in a hypotonic solution, water will rush in to the cell, causing it to swell and sometimes burst. A plant cell placed in a hypotonic solution will also swell due to water rushing in, but will resist rupturing due to the rigid cell wall. Plant cells become more rigid in a hypotonic solution.

To study the effects of hypotonic, hypertonic and isotonic solutions on plant and animal cells.

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

The purpose of this lab is to test the effect of osmosis on cucumber slices. If a cucumber slice is placed in a hypertonic solution, then the mass of the cucumber slice will decrease. Whereas, if