Osmosis Case Study: Biology

Explain what happened to the blood cells at the various levels of concentration. Be sure to refer to the solutions as being hypotonic, hypertonic and isotonic.

Blood is a non-Newtonian fluid that contains many components. One such component is red blood cells. Due to the red blood cells having the tendency to clump together at low velocities, calcium chloride was added in order to cause a thrombus formation. The blood used in this experiment was sheep’s blood.

There are three types of environments in which cells are located which include isotonic, hypotonic and hypertonic. In an isotonic environment, the amount of water and solute are the same both inside and outside of the cell. As water drifts into the a cell, the same amount flows out creating a balanced environment both inside and outside of the cell. When there is a high level of water on the outside of the cell and a high amount of solute inside the cell, water will be drawn inside of the cell creating a hypotonic solution. The increase in water inside the cell causes the cell to become engorged and erupt. In a

Table 1 shows the contents of the bags and the content of the concentration it was submersed in. Bags 2-4 each contain a solution of both sucrose and water. These bags were each put into beakers containing hypertonic solution. These bags gained weight over time because the water moved from its high concentration inside the beaker to the low concentration inside the membrane of the artificial cell, the membrane being the bags that consisted of dialysis tubing. The

29. If all the 280 million molecules of hemoglobin contained in RBCs were free in the plasma,

2. Which of the following terms refers to either a reduction in the quantity of hemoglobin or a reduction in the volume of red blood cells?

Materials and methods describe the resources used in the experiment and how it was performed. Reading the methods of previous studies enables scientists to repeat the experiment and collect their own data. This data can be used to support other’s findings.

A cell is subject to hypoxic conditions for 20 minutes, then observed under the microscope. The

Also he’s oxygen diffusion rate has increased due to the more oxygen which is absorbed by the alveoli and then circulated around the body.

A 13 year old is studying blood in school, and has asked some questions that haven't been answered in class. I will answer

The other type of artificial blood is more of a blood substitute as it is derived from either outdated bovine or human red blood cells. It is known as Hemoglobin Based Oxygen Carriers (HBOC), Hemoglobin which is the oxygen carrying protein molecule found in red blood cells is extracted from the obsolete red blood cells through ultrafiltration and purification. The Hemoglobin must undergo specific processes in an attempt to prevent the Hemoglobin from disassociating from its natural four-chain configuration (Fridey 3). There is numerous methods of chemically altering the Hemoglobin to increase the molecules size so it does not dissociate and break down. The two main processes of enlarging the

The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effects of tonicity on a cell membrane using red blood cells, potato strips and three unknown solutions (A, B, C). First three slides were prepared containing RBC’s and unknown solutions A, B and C. A control slide was prepared only using RBC’s. After observing each slide under the microscope it was determined that unknown solution A was hypertonic because the RBC appeared to have shrunk. The RBC in unknown solution B appeared to be swollen, therefor, the tonicity of unknown solution B was hypotonic. Unknown solution C showed no change to the RBC shape, it was suggested that unknown solution C was isotonic. To confirm the tonicity

The first solution used is distilled water which is a hypotonic solution. In this situation, water will diffuse into the red blood cells causing them to expand and be round (as shown in the above results) and sometimes they may rapture as shown in the picture below:

When RBCs are suspended in an isotonic solution, nothing should be observed as there will be no net water movement between the RBCs and the solution. Thus, when 200 µL of blood was added to 10mL isotonic saline (0,154 M NaCl), voltage of 0V is recorded. When RBCs are suspended in a hypertonic solution, for instance, 0.4 M NaCl, RBCs shrunk due to decrease in cell volume as water diffused out of the cells by osmosis. The protein concentration within the cells become greater and more light is scattered and a negative

The fourteen collected samples of fluid included distilled water (0% seawater/ionic concentration), 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% seawater; 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% seawater in Cyclograpsus blood; and 60%, 70%, 80% and 100% seawater in Plagusia blood. 1.0 mm bore capillary tubes were cleaned and dried. Approximately 3.0 mm of each fluid was drawn into 14 different tubes, and gently tapped to ensure the fluid was moved to the middle of the tubes. The tubes were marked and sealed using Vaseline, then placed strictly in an adjacent parallel order, using Vaseline as an anchor, across a capillary level holder. Dry ice was carefully placed on the capillary tubes to freeze the fluid in the capillary tubes.