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BIOLOGY LAB REPORT
AN INVESTIGATION ON THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON THE RATE OF
OSMOSIS
Biology SL
Date: 23-02-2019
AIM
RESEARCH QUESTION
How does four different temperatures affect the rate of osmosis as measured by change
in mass of raisins in 6 hours of interval?
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
When raisins are placed in water (a hypotonic solution), they absorb water by a process
called osmosis and swell up. Osmosis is the net movement of solvent molecules from a
region of their higher concentration to a region of their lower concentration through a
semipermeable membrane. It is an important process to cells because the cells are
continuously trying to achieve equilibrium. Many factors affect the rate of osmosis
including the size of particles and concentration gradient however the factor
investigated in this experiment is temperature. The kinetic energy of particles increases
with the temperature and so does its speed. And thus, there is an increase in the rate of
osmosis.
If a cell is placed in a hypotonic solution, there is a higher solute concentration in the
cell, making water molecules move into the cell to help reach equilibrium. This causes
the cell to gain weight. The movement of water into the cells of the raisins through their
cell membranes continues until the cells become turgid. This process is called
endosmosis. The percentage of water absorbed by raisins due to endosmosis can be
measured by knowing the difference of their initial weight and the final weight.
PERSONAL ENGAGEMENT
HYPOTHESIS
If temperature affects the rate of osmosis, then the higher the temperature, the faster is
the rate of osmosis and the lower the temperature, the slower is the rate of osmosis.
MATERIALS REQUIRED
1. Raisins
2. Weighing scale (error 0.01)
3. Test tubes
4. Silver foil
5. Thermometer
6. Refrigerator
7. Incubator
8. Oven
9. Tissues
PROCEDURE
1. Weigh a batch of ten raisins and note down its mass. The least count of the
weighing scale is 0.01.
2. Take 16 test tubes and immerse the raisins in it half filled with tap water.
3. Cover all of them with silver foils for avoiding evaporation.
4. Place four test tubes in one of the four temperature conditions, room (23-24 °C),
oven (65 °C), incubator (36-37 °C) and refrigerator (0-2 °C).
5. Takeout the test tubes after six hours and drain the water.
6. Put them on tissue and let it carefully absorb the excess water.
7. Weigh the raisins again and note down its mass.
Conditions Average percentage change Average percentage change per
hour
Graph 1: Average percentage change in mass per hour in raisins for each condition
QUALITATIVE DATA
● Some raisins in the oven burst because of excessive osmosis and thus can weigh
lesser than the room conditions ones.
● Even before weighing, we could tell that some raisins will weigh more than their
initial mass.
Table 1 represents the data collected from the class, where each group was assigned a
temperature condition to test on their raisins. The obtained values are the initial mass
and the final mass. And then, the percentage change in the mass of each trial of each
condition. The averages were worked out in Table 2.
In the above graph, the percentage changes in mass on the X axis and the different
temperature conditions in on the Y axis. It is visible that with an increasing temperature
there is also an increase in the percentage change in the mass. The relationship between
the data can also be proven by the errors bars, representing the standard deviation from
the data points. The standard deviation is 26.26.
The rate of osmosis was faster when there was a higher temperature. The graph shows
the differences in the average percentage change in mass in the raisins per hour. The
batch of raisins in the refrigerator gained the least amount of mass because it had the
lowest temperature as compared to the other conditions. The water diffused into the
raisins at the slowest rate. The raisins in the oven gained more mass because the
temperature was relatively higher. The water diffused into the raisins at a faster rate
than other conditions.
There is not much difference in the percentage change between room and incubator
because the difference in the temperature was also not very high.
CONCLUSION
As the temperature increased, the percentage of the change in mass increased which
means, the rate of osmosis also increased. Therefore, the data supports the hypothesis as
when the temperature was higher in the oven, the rate of osmosis was faster. With a
lower temperature, the rate of osmosis in the raisins in the refrigerator was relatively
lower. Hence the prediction that the higher the temperature, the faster is the rate of
osmosis and the lower the temperature, the slower is the rate of osmosis was reinforced.
EVALUATION
● Only four readings were taken therefore, the standard deviation is questionable.
● Refrigerator is more likely to get open and therefore the temperature cannot be
the same as compared to oven which is least likely to get open. This can lead to
errors.
● Some of the raisins swollen too much and burst and might be faulty.
● 6 hours of time was used because:
○ Room temperature may change if we do the experiment for too long.
○ If we keep the raisins for too long then the slowest of the osmosis will catch
up with the others because there is a certain limit till osmosis happens.
○ If the temperature is too high then the osmosis will stop due to enzyme and
substrate overheating and losing shape.