Questions....................................................................................................................

1
Questions
HKALE 1997 Biology Paper I.......................................................................................1
HKALE 1997 Biology Paper I.......................................................................................2
 Questions
HKALE 1997 Biology Paper I
7. (a) Give a word equation to illustrate the relationship between the water potential (),
the osmotic potential (s) and the pressure potential (p) in a plant cell. (1 mark)

(b) Sketch a graph to show the changes in, s andp when a fully plasmolysed
plant cell is placed in pure water and regains full turgor in 40 minutes (given :
pressure potential at full turgor is +400 kPa and incipient plasmolysis occurs at 20
minutes). (5 marks)
Suggested Solution
HKALE 1997 Biology Paper I
7. (a) water potential = osmotic / solute potential + pressure potential
(1)

(b) 1 mark for each correctly drawn curve showing the following trends,
each curve must be labelled or keyed : (total 3 marks)
3
For p : rise from 0 kPa at incipient plasmolysis at 20 minutes to
+400 kPa at 40 minutes
For s : rise from -400 kPa at 0 minutes to -400 kPa at 40
minutes
For : rise from -400 kPa at 0 minutes to 0 kPa at 40
minutes

0.5 mark for each axis with correct labels and units. (1 mark for x and y
axes) 1
0.5 mark for indicating the time for incipient plasmolysis and full turgor
on the x axis 1
0.5 mark for labelling the curves
(5)
Q7 = 6 marks