General Biology

Osmosis Lab

Charnwutiwong Nutchanon, Nont

Keittivuti Sarisa, Namo
Phohom Tanrak, Tan
Soontornworasate Nataphorn, Sea

Class section: 1001

6 March 2017
Introduction

Purpose
The purpose of this experiment is to identify the different of solution and to demonstrate
about how osmosis work.

Hypothesis
- If the jelly is soak in the concentrated salt water then the size of the jelly will decrease
- If the potato is soak in the distilled water then it will increase the size.

Materials
- 6 Beakers (3 for jelly, 3 for potato)
- Electronic Balance
- Distilled water
- Concentrated salt water
- 3 Jellies
- 3 Potato Pieces
- Calculator groups bring their own calculator
- Knife
- Weighing paper
- Markers
- Gloves
- Lab Coat
- Goggles
- 2 graduated cylinders

Methods
1. Collect the materials that your group needs (3 Jelly and Half a Potato)
2. Use the knife to cut the potato into 3 equal pieces
3. Use the electronic balance to find the mass of your jelly. Remember to lay down a piece of
weighing paper and set to zero.
4. Record your data
5. Record descriptive observations about the jelly prior to the experiment.
6. Measure the initial volume of the jelly and the potato and record your data.
7. Fill your 1st beaker halfway with distilled water. Put one of your jelly into the beaker. Set
the beaker aside for one hour. Label the beaker using marker.
8. Fill your 2st beaker with concentrated salt solution halfway. Put your 2nd jelly into that
beaker. Set beaker aside for one hour. Label the beaker using marker.
9. Put your 3rd jelly into an empty beaker without putting anything in it. That should be your
control.
10. Put the 4th beaker halfway with distilled water. Put one of your potato pieces into the
beaker. Set the beaker aside for one hour. Label the beaker.
11. Put the 5th beaker halfway with concentrated salt solution halfway. Put your second
potato pieces into that beaker and set it aside for an hour. Label the beaker.
12. Place your last piece of potato pieces into the last beaker, empty. That is your control for
the potato. Label the beaker.
13. Make sure you label all the beakers distilled water or concentrated salt solution with
some markers.
14. After one hour, come back and look at each of the beakers and record the data volume
and mass of both the jellies in two beaker and both the potato in two other beakers.
15. Also record the descriptive data for what the jelly and the potato look like now after being
soaker for an hour.
16. Calculate the percent change in the size of each jelly and potato

a) Percent change in volume

b) Percent change in mass

Data table

Jelly 1: Jelly 2:
Hypotonic Hypertonic
Solution Solution

Initial: Before Final: After Initial: Before Final: After

Soaking Soaking in Soaking Soaking in Salt
Distilled Water Water

Volume +3.25 ml3 +5.1ml3 +4ml3 +4ml3

Mass 5.07g 6.08g 5.16g 5.14g

Potato 1: Potato 2:
Hypotonic Hypertonic
Solution Solution

Initial: Before Final: After Initial: Before Final: After

Soaking Soaking in Soaking Soaking in Salt
Distilled Water Water

Volume +3.5ml3 +4ml3 +2.9ml3 +1ml3

Mass 2.58g 3.18g 2.52g 2.06g

Data Table C: Changes appearence of jelly before and after put in solution
 Jelly(Distilled water) Jelly(Salt Water)
Before Soaking in Distilled Water: Before Soaking in Salt Water:
Before soaking in the distilled water the jelly Before soaking, the jelly was look same as
was sticky and viscous. the one before soak in distilled water

After Soaking in Distilled Water: After Soaking in Salt Water:

After soaking the jelly, it was swerve and After soaking, the jelly was a little bit rot and
slippy the color is look lighter than before softer than the before one.
soaking. The jelly was a bit look bigger.

Data Table D: Changes appearence of potato before and after put in solution
Potato(Distilled water) Potato(Salt Water)
Before Soaking in Distilled Water: Before Soaking in Salt Water:
The potato feels like it contain the water in The potato look similar like the sample of
the cell because after cut it into pieces it distilled water.
feels wet on the surface of the potato.

After Soaking in Distilled Water: After Soaking in Salt Water:

The potato was look a bit bigger and the The potato was looked drier than the
color was also look more lightner. one before soke and the texture was so
coarse.

Data Table: Percent Change

Jelly 1: Soaked in Distilled Jelly 2: Soaked in Salt

Water Water
Percent change in Volume 56.92% 0%

Percent change in Mass 19.92% -1%

Potato 1: Soaked in Potato 2: Soaked in Salt

Distilled Water Water
 Percent change in Volume 14% -65%

Percent change in Mass 23% -18%

Bar graph

Analyzing Result Questions

1. What happened to the jellies after being soaked in distilled water and salt water for an
hour? Why? Be descriptive and detailed in your answer. Use your knowledge of membrane
transport.
- The jelly that is being soaked in distilled water expanded and increased its size after an
hour passed. This is because the jelly is hypotonic so the water moves inside it more than
move outside, the water in a hypertonic solution. In the other hand, the jelly that is being
soaked in salt water shrinked and decreased its size. Therefore, the jelly is hypertonic so the
water moves outside more than it moves inside, which means that the salt water solution is a
hypertonic solution.
2. What happened to the potato after being soaked in distilled water and salt water for an
hour? Be descriptive and detailed in your answer. Use your knowledge of membrane
transport.
- After being soaked in distilled water for an hour the potato swelled and expanded in its size.
This happens because the potato is hypotonic and the distilled water is hypertonic, so the
water moves inside the potato more than it move out. However, the potato that is soaked into
the salt water solution decreased its size and shrink. This is because, in this situation the
water acted as a hypotonic solution and the potato acted hypertonic, so the water inside
potato move outside more than it move in.

Conclusion
In conclusion, osmosis is the process which allows certain substances to pass through the
membrane, usually liquid with small particles. For this experiment, both the jelly and potato
in distilled water, which refers to hypotonic solution shrinked, and both samples of the jelly
and potato in salt water which acted like hypertonic solution swelled
.

Worklog

Name Role
Nont record data and make data tables
Sea bar graph, material and method,
conclusion
Tan Data tables
Namo analysing result question and hypothesis
Introduction (Nont):
We learned about the semi-permeable membrane, exchanging substances, such as
diffusion and osmosis. We focused more on osmosis. I learned that there are three different
cases of osmosis, hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic. Water will move from the place that
has more water, less solute to the place that has less water, more solute. According to BBC,
(n.d. para 1), Water can move across cell membranes because of osmosis. Hypertonic
solution is when the solution has less water than the substance or thing that is in that
solution such as cells. Therefore, the water will move from inside the cell to outside the cell
causing the cell to shrink. Hypotonic solution is the opposite; the solution has more water
than the cell that is in the solution. Therefore, the water will go into the cell more than going
out of the cell causing the cell to swell. Isotonic is when the amount of water in the
substance and solution is exactly the same. Therefore, the net movement of water will be
none. The transport of water and other molecules across biological membranes is essential
to many processes in living organisms. (R Nave, n.d., para 6). So, osmosis is a very
important process for all living things. If they cannot transport substances in and out of the
cell or membrane, it might not be able to survive. Osmosis is a type of passive transport
which does not require energy in the process unlike active transport which uses ATP for the
process.
The purpose of this lab is to see the change in the volume and mass of the
substances in hypertonic and hypotonic solution. We used potatoes and jellies for the test.
We used three of each, one for hypertonic solution, one for hypotonic solution, and one for
control group which we did not put it in any solution. We started of by measuring the mass
and volume of each one. Then, we put the jellies and potatoes in the solutions and leave
them in the solutions for about one hour and we came back to measure the change in mass
and volume of the substances in each solution.

References:
R., Nave. (n.d.). Diffusion and Osmosis. Retrieved March 04, 2017, from
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Kinetic/diffus.html

BBC - GCSE Bitesize: Osmosis. (n.d.). Retrieved March 04, 2017, from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_aqa_pre_2011/cells/cells4.shtml
Introduction (Sea):

Have you ever wondered how water passes through the roots? And why our hand get
wrinkly in water? These two question are related to one process called osmosis.

All cells consist of cell membrane, which separate the inside and outside cell and also
help transport materials in and out of the cell. A selectively permeable membrane is a
membrane which allows certain molecules can pass through, this is to maintain homeostasis
which very essential for our cell. A certain substance can pass through this membrane by
two means which are passive transport and active transport. Active transport allows material
to move inside and outside cell from low to high concentration gradient or against a gradient,
this lead this type requires energy while transporting. Another type of transport is passive
transport. In passive transport, unlike active transport because this type not expend energy
while transporting, because this type allows materials can move from high to low
concentration gradient which is a natural way of movement. Passive transport can define
into 3 types. First is simple diffusion, which allow small and non-polar substance can directly
pass through the membrane. Second is facilitated diffusion, this type requires a channel or
carrier protein to help them pass through. In case of large and ions(polar) substance will use
this kind. The last one is osmosis. Osmosis is the process which has a tendency for liquid,
usually water can pass through the membrane to the side with higher solute which called
hypertonic, and side with lower solute is called hypotonic. (Slick, n.d.) If both side are not
have an equal concentrate there always have a movement of water molecules until it equal.

The purpose of this experiment is to learn more about osmosis. This lab provided us to
do an experiment by ourselves. In the experiment we used three of each jelly and potato for
testing. We soaked the jelly and potato into distilled water which represent of hypotonic
solution, and salt water as the hypertonic solution and one for control group which we did not
filled any solution in to acted like isotonic solution. We measured the mass and volume all of
the examples before and after soaking. Hence, we know that if the materials are in a
hypertonic solution, water will move outside the materials, and if the materials are in
hypotonic solution, water will move inside the materials.

Reference:
Passive transport and active transport. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/cells/transport-across-a-cell-
membrane/a/passive-transport-and-active-transport-across-a-cell-membrane-article

Cells. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_aqa_pre_2011/cells/cells4.shtml

Slick, M. (n.d.). Osmosis. Retrieved from https://carm.org/dictionary-osmosis

Introduction (Tan):

One organelle that has in every cell is cell membrane. Cell membrane is a selectively
membrane, means only something can pass through it. The construct of cell membrane are
phospholipid, protein, cholesterol and etc. The process that cell membrane removing the
waste have two type which are Passive transport and Active transport. For passive transport,
in this process the energy is not required and the movement is from high to low
concentration. And the type of passive are diffusion, facilitated diffusion, and osmosis. The
substance that will use the process of passive transport will be the thing that soluble or able
to dissolve. Active transport, this process is almost different from passive transport because
in this process is using the energy to remove the solute and the direction is also different in
active transport, it will move the solute from low to high concentration and the substance that
use this process to pass through are protein and the large complex of sugar. The stage of
the solution, Isotonic, hypertonic and hypotonic, all of these three stages are using the
passive transport to remove the waste. Isotonic means when the concentration of the
environment outside the cell and inside the cell are both equal and the waste that moving in
and out are balance. Hypertonic means there is the higher concentration in the environment
that the cell so, water will be moving out and make the cell shrink. Hypotonic means the
concentration inside the cell is higher than the environment so the water that outside the cell
will goes inside and make the cell swell maybe it can explosion.

In this experiment, the transportation that will be happen is the osmosis. Osmosis means the
process of the passive transport that the waste or the water from high to low concentration
will move pass through semipermeable membrane. Semipermeable membrane is the tissue
with a tiny hole that select only something can pass through its. The sample using in this
experiment is the pieces of potato and jelly. The hypertonic solution that use to test is
Sodium chloride solution or Saline and the hypotonic is using the tap water. The control
group sample is the isotonic solution. Before testing by put the sample into the different
solution, all of the sample need to measure the mass and volume for observation. The
hypothesis of this experiment is the sample that put into the hypertonic solution, that sample
might be shrink and the one that put into the hypotonic solution might be swell because
using the properties of the passive transport.

Osmosis (2015, August 20). Retrieved from

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/membranes-and-transport/diffusion-and-
osmosis/v/osmosis

Education, P. Pearson - the biology place. Retrieved March 5, 2017, from

http://www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/biocoach/biomembrane1/isotonic.html

Active and passive transport - difference and comparison. Retrieved March 5, 2017, from
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Active_Transport_vs_Passive_Transport
INTRODUCTON (Namo):
Have you ever wonder what and how do living organism absorb nutrients to their cell
and remove the waste out of the cell? The answer is by using the plasma membrane, which
is a wall that splits each cell from other cells and fluid outside them. It is called by another
name, selective permeability, because it does not approve all molecules to move inside the
cell. By the help of transport proteins, the molecules are able to enter and exit the cell. The
membrane is then called the fluid mosaic model by how it is arranged. (McGraw-Hill, n.d)
There are two type of membrane transport: active transport and passive transport. On one
hand, in order to transport molecules, energy or ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is needed in
the active transport. On the other hand, passive transport does not. There are three types of
passive transport, diffusion, facilitated transport and osmosis. Firstly, diffusion, this type of
passive transport transfer molecules from high concentration area to the lower one and it
stops when the concentrations are equal. Secondly, helping of transport protein in
transferring molecules from higher concentration area to lower one is called facilitated
diffusion. (Molnar & Gair, 2015) Last but not least, osmosis is the net movement of
water across a semipermeable membrane from an area of lower solute concentration to an
area of higher solute concentration. (Khan academy, n.d, paragraph 3) In osmosis, there
are three type of solution or course to measure the concentration of cell and solution around
it, hypotonic, hypertonic and isotonic. These are characterizing by the tonicity or the ability of
making water transport in or out or as known as tonicity. Hypertonic, where there is more
amount of water inside the cell than outside; allowing water to be transporting outside cell
that contain more concentration of solute than inside. This causes the cell to become smaller
in size. Hypotonic, where there is lesser amount of water inside the cell than outside;
allowing water to be transporting into the cell. This causes the cell to become bigger in size.
Isotonic, where there is the same amount of water and solvent inside and outside of the cell.
This causes nothing to happen to the cell. (Khan academy, n.d)

The purpose of this lab is to demonstrate the process of osmosis in each tonicity, by
using jellies and potatoes. The potato and jelly represent the cell and the solution represent
the fluid outside Each jelly and potato are placed in each type of solutions and kept one each
as control group or isotonic where there is nothing move in or move out, or the amount of
water and solvent is the same. One jelly and one potato are placed in distilled water, after
one hour passed by they swelled because there is lower concentration of water inside the
jelly and the potato so the water move in more than out, that is when osmosis happen.
However, in the concentrated salt water solution, the jelly and potato shrink, this is because
there is higher concentration of water inside the jelly and the potato so the water move out
than it move in, the potato and jelly shrink.
Reference:
McGraw-Hill, (n.d) Reading Essentials for Biology: The Dynamics of Life. New York,
New York. Pg. 71-72
Osmosis and tonicity, (n.d). Retrieved from
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/membranes-and-transport/diffusion-and-
osmosis/a/osmosis
Molnar & Gair,(2015) Concepts of Biology- 1st Canadian Edition. Retrieved from
https://opentextbc.ca/biology/