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Osmosis lab report: effects of the concentration of sucrose on the rate of osmosis

Introduction

The objective of this lab report is to identify the effects of sucrose concentration on

osmosis in potato cells as well as the equilibrium point. The experiment shall include an

investigation of the changes in the potato chip mass in different types of glucose solution

concentration.

Osmosis points to the process of diffusion of water molecules from a high potential to

lower water via a semi-permeable membrane. semi-permeable cells have the capacity of

allowing small water molecules to pass through but does not allow passage of larger particles.

Since cells contain typically some chemicals dissolved in them, they, therefore, have lower water

potential as compared to distilled water. Immersing cells in a sugar solution which is of high

concentration makes the cells lose water through osmosis since there is high water potential in

the cells thus more water molecules leave the cell than they enter. The resultant is the cell

becoming flaccid thus decreasing in mass. On the other hand, placing a cell in sugar solution that

has the same concentration with that of water there is a similar movement of water molecules in
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and out of the cell. There is no net movement, and thus the cell does not change its state. This

situation is what referred to as net equilibrium.

Hypothesis

My hypothesis in this experiment was that the concentration of sugar (sucrose) within the

potato cylinders would range between 0.3M and 0.4 M. Thus the solution of sucrose from 0.00 to

0. three will be hypotonic while that of solution from 0.4 to 0.6 will be hypertonic.

Materials and procedure

Test tube rack, potato, test tubes, ruler, pencil, digital balance, distilled water, 1.0M of

sugar solution, syringes, beaker, plastic cup, cutting tile, knife, apple corer, sieve, tissue paper,

and a clock.

Prepare 20cm3 of different sugar solution concentration i.e. 0.0M, 0.2M, 0.5M,

0.7M,1.0M and use them to prepare a concentration table as follows.

Concentration M Water cm3 Sugar solution cm3

0.0 20 0.0

0.2 16 4.0

0.5 10 10

0.7 6 14
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1.0 0.0 20.0

Pour 20cm3 of each solution into test tubes, using an apple corer cut five cylinders of

potato of 3cm in length, using a tissue paper dry each potato cylinder and put them on a weight

balance. Record the reading on a paper. Immerse each potato cylinder in each concentration.

Leave the apparatus for twenty-five minutes. Using a sieve for catching the potato cylinders

empty each test tube of each solution dry them and weigh them again and record the results.

Results

The results of the experiment indicated that a point of equilibrium achievement when the

concentration was 0.2M. The results presented in the graph suggest that the potato cylinders

placed in a low concentrated sugar solution increased in mass. On the other hand, potato

cylinders immersed in high concentrated sugar solution decreased in mass. This condition

indicates that the lower the concentration of sucrose solution the higher the mass of the potato

cylinders and the higher the concentration of sucrose solution the more decrease in potato mass.

Placing a potato cylinder in 0 M of distilled water increased its mass by about 3.6% it initial

mass. This situation results because distilled water has a high water potential and therefore more

molecules of water diffuse through the potato cell thus leading to an increase in the mass of the

cell.

The potato cylinder in 1.0M recorded the most decrease in mass. This condition is

because the sugar solution had lower water potential while the cell had high water potential thus

causing the water molecules to flow from the cell into the sugar solution. This situation is
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because water molecules moved from an area of high concentration to an area to an area of low

concentration thus resulting in a decrease in mass of the cell.

The potato cylinder placed in the 0.7M shrunk by 3.5% of its initial mass due to loss of

mass due to osmosis since the sugar solution had lower water potential than the cell.

The results show that sugar solution with a range between 0.00 and 0.2M are hypotonic and

made the potatoes increase in weight while that with a range between 0.3 and 0.6 are hypertonic

and resulted in the mass decrease of potato cell.

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Final 5 5 4.4 4.2 3.7 3.8 3.5

weight

Initial 4.5 3.9 4.3 4.1 4.4 4.4 4.4

weight

Weight .5 .5 .5 -0.1 -0.8 -0.6 0.9

change

%change 11.1 11.1 12.8 -2.3 -19.5 13.5 -20.5

in

weight

After graphing it was easy to put up a linear function using the percentage change in weight from

sucrose concentration difference using the points (0.2,12.8) and (0.3-2.3) using the function

below:
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Y=-153x+43.4

20

10

-10

-20

-30
0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6
Concentration

Figure 3: Concentration of sucrose within a potato cell

Discussion

The objective of the experiment was to identify the concentration gradient of sucrose

within the potato cylinder tube. Based on the results of this experiment the concentration of

sucrose within the potato is 0.28366M. From the results of the investigation, an isotonic solution

contains a morality of 0.28366 indicating that the concentration gradient of a hypotonic solution

ranges from 0 M to 0.28366M while that of a hypertonic solution is 0.28366M and above. Thus,

my experiment indicates that the concentration of sucrose in a potato cell lies between 0.2M and

0.3M.