Diffusion and Osmosis Lab Report

Nicole Mackey

AP Biology

November, 2019
 Nicole Mackey Formal Lab Report, 2019

Introduction

Osmosis and diffusion in cells is crucial because of how the actions of both help the cell
function properly. Diffusion transports substances in and out of the cell either through passive or
active transport, and osmosis specifically deals with the diffusion of water. Potatoes are a form
of tuber that grows from the ground, and it utilizes diffusion for growth and other actions.
Potatoes will react to different environments it is placed in, and when exposed to a new
environment, it may shrink or grow. This all correlates to the idea of osmosis because of its
reaction.
The three types of solutions substances can be placed in are isotonic, hypertonic, or
hypotonic. Isotonic creates no net movement between the water in the cell and the water the item
is placed in. Hypertonic causes cells to shrivel and die because the water leaves the cell. Lastly,
hypotonic causes cells to swell and burst because water moves into the cell.
By using different concentrations of sucrose solutions, the potatoes are going to react to
each one in a different way. The net movement of the water in each solution will determine the
new weight and size of the potato sticks. The experiment that was used determined the water
potential of the potato sticks, and factors of this include the weight and change in the look of the
sticks. The rate of osmosis was dependent on the beginning size of the potato and the solution the
potatoes were placed in. The potato aided in the understanding of water potential and osmosis in
plants.

Prelab Questions
1. What happen if you applied saltwater to the roots of a plant? Why?
a. The plant will shrivel and wilt if it was placed in salt water. It would shrivel
because salt is a hypertonic solution, and this will cause the water to move out of
the cell. It is also a new environment for the plant that isn’t use to salt water, so it
will shrivel.
2. What are two different ways a plant could control turgor pressure, a name for internal
water potential within its cells? Is this a sufficient definition for turgor pressure?
 a. Plants maintain their turgor pressure by moving proteins in and out of the cell.
They also obtain water to increase their turgor pressure because without water, it
will wilt. The definition; however, is inaccurate because turgor pressure is the
pressure of the cytoplasmic membrane over the cell wall, which will then change
the water potential in plants.
3. Will water move in or out of a plant cell if the plant cell has a higher water potential than
its surrounding environment?
a. Water will leave or move out of the cell if the cell has a higher concentration on
the inside. The cell is trying to reach an equilibrium, so it will try to create an
equilibrium by leaving the cell and entering the new environment.
4. Where is the cell membrane in relation to the cell wall? Can you see the two structures

easily? Why or why not?

a. The membrane is found between the cell wall and cytoplasm. You cannot see the

two structures with a naked eye but with a microscope, the two structures are

easily visible.

5. What parts of the cell that you see control the water concentration in the cell?

a. The semi permeable membrane and the large water vacuole control the water

concentration in the cell.

6. What changes do you expect to see when the cells are exposed to the solutions?

a. The cell will not change in the freshwater. A hypotonic solution will keep

the cell rigid and healthy. However, in salt water, the cell will plasmolyze and

wilt.

7. How will you know if a particular treatment is increasing turgor pressure? If it is

reducing turgor pressure?

a. Turgor pressure is the pressure of the cell wall against the rest
 of the cell. If the membrane and the cell wall aren’t able to be seen separated, turgor

pressure is high. If the membrane and cell wall are visibly separate, then turgor pressure

is low.

8. How could you determine which solution is isotonic to the cells?

a. In isotonic solutions, the cell might become flaccid and limp because the cell

doesn’t have enough turgor pressure to keep the cell have a high water content.

9. How could you measure the plant pieces to determine the rate of osmosis?

a. By measuring the plant's pieces mass, or the surface area to volume ratio you can

determine the rate of osmosis. The measure of the plant’s mass before and after it

is placed in the solutions also determines the rate of osmosis. If the surface area to

volume ratio decreases that also means that osmosis has occurred.

10. How could you calculate water potential in the cells?

a. By using the water potential equation and measuring the weight of the cells over

time.

11. Which solution has a water potential equal to that of the plant cells? How do you know?

a. The sucrose solution with the molarity of .2. We concluded this because the

potato had little to no change in mass after being put in the solution.

12. Was the water potential in different plants the same?

a. Since we didn’t experiment on different plants, we weren’t able to conclude this.

Compared to the other potatoes in other people’s labs. The water potential was

different between groups.

13. What would your results be if the potato were placed in a dry area for several days before
your experiment?
 a. The potato would lose mass because it is place in an area that has less water. The
potato would try to reach an equilibrium by releasing water into the environment,
and this causes it to lose mass.
14. When potatoes are in the ground, do they swell with water when it rains? If not, how do
you explain that and if so, what would be the advantage or disadvantage?

a. The potato’s skin acts as a cell membrane. This means when the potato is in the
ground and it rains, the potato won’t swell because the skin protects it from
gaining too much water. The advantage is that the potato is protected from its
outside environment.

Question

Which potato would be able to have the highest percent change over the course of three
days and how would that be possible?

Hypothesis

If the size and shape of the potato has a better surface to volume ratio than the others and
is placed in a sucrose solution of 1.0 molarity, the potato stick will swell and have a high water
potential because it has the driving force to move.

Variables

● Independent Variable – The independent variable is the sucrose solutions and their
concentrations.
● Dependent Variable – The amount of days the potato is placed in the solution and the
weight of the potatoes are the dependent variable.
● Control Variables – The control variables are the potato sticks, but not the sizes, the
cups, and amount of solution each potato is placed in.
Materials

● Potato, peeled, cut into fries

● Balances
● Rulers (metric)
● Cups
● Unlabeled, color coded sucrose solutions of different concentrations

Methods

1. Obtain cut potato sticks from our teacher and cut them in half again so that they would
fit in each cup we have. Record each weight and length of the potatoes that you will
place in each cup.
2. There are 5 cups, and in each one, a different concentration of the sucrose solution is
placed in it. The main focus is to cover the potato so that it would have the ability to
change in size and weight rather than drying out from being in the open air.
3. Set each cup aside in a place that was easy to access; Wait one day for the reweighing
of the potatoes
4. During the next day, obtain the new weights of the potatoes by using a balance. Make
sure the potato isn’t sopping wet when it’s on the balance because this is supposed to
record the weight of the potato and not the water around it. Record the observations
down in a notebook. Place the potatoes back in the solution.
5. After waiting another day, take the potatoes out to weigh them again. Record the
observations
6. After gathering the data from weighing the potatoes, calculate the water potential of the
potatoes by using the formula:
 7. Also calculate the percent changes from day to day weighing of the potatoes. (this will
be used in the graph that will be created)
8. Create a graph that presents the data that was found: this includes the way the weights
changed over the course of three days and the percent changes

Data
 The collection of data began began on day zero when they weren’t placed in the solution.

Each day, they were weighed again to see the change over time. The total amount of days that

they were weighed was three. The data was used to calculate the mean percent change of the

potatoes in the different solutions. The sucrose solution of .2 molarity had a percent change of

8.1%. The .4 molarity had a change of 1.3%. The 0.6 molarity had a change of -10.1%. Lastly,

the 1.0 molarity had a percent change of -12.2%. The calculated water potential of the potato is

-11.1 bars.

Analysis

The data that is shown above helped to determine the osmotic change of each potato stick
in the solutions. The slope shows a downward trend, and as the molarity increases, the percent
decreases. Each potato stick reacted differently to the solutions, however if placed in a .45
solution, the potato would be placed in an isotonic solution because it wouldn’t show change.
The others were placed in solutions that showed change. In the .6, .8, and 1.0 molarity, they were
placed in a hypertonic solution because of how the potatoes lost water and mass. In the .2 and .4
molarity, the mass and water increased making it placed in the hypotonic solution. In the .45
molarity solution, the potato’s water potential would be -11.1 bars.

Analyzing Results:
1. Cells are small because they must have a large surface relative to their volume in able to
function adequately. This allows the cell to function at a faster rate than if they larger.
The cell can also transport substances faster than if it were to be exhausting more energy
because the cells volume is too big. The cell membrane has many convolutions in order
to be able to have a high surface to volume ratio. The surface to volume ratio helps to
manage the cell and how many resources it needs and how much energy to use.
2. The mitochondria has many convolutions in order to increase its surface area. This allows
it to create more energy and produce everything more efficiently. Its surface to volume
 ratio is higher on the surface area side, so this means it has many folds inside in order to
create more energy. The energy that is created is ATP.
3. No diffusion or osmosis will occur within a cell placed in an isotonic solution. Since it is
placed in a solution that is the same as the inside environment, no net movement will
occur. The environment and the cell are at an equilibrium.

Conclusion

The hypothesis was correct for the molarity, but it wasn’t that much for the size of the
potato. We believed the factor would play a bigger role in the experiment, but the percent
changes over time was what was mainly focused on. If taking account for the sizes, then the
hypothesis could have been further evaluated, but in the end the molarity part of our data. It had
a high water potential because of its driving force to move to a different place was higher than
the rest. These means that even though the first part didn’t play a bigger factor in our experiment
and data like we thought it would, we were still able to obtain data from the molarities of the
solutions.

Evaluation

This lab experience attempted to explain water potential in a more hands on way. We
were able to see the change in size of the potatoes over the course of the day. The first day went
our way, but I was absent when the rest of the testing went on for the potato. I got my research
from my other lab partners, but it didn’t help that I was absent for it. The methods we used
weren’t out of the box because it was just testing osmotic changes in potatoes that were placed in
sucrose solutions. The equipment we used was all regular and up to date, so nothing went wrong
there either. If this experiment were to happen again, I would want to be there measuring the data
myself so I wouldn’t have to rely on someone to get all the information from. I would improve
the experiment by adding more time to the potato in the solution to see a bigger change over
time.
Future Research

The changes I would take would be not only adding more trials, but I would also switch
up the variables and materials. I would try different plants and see the reactions to the solutions
over time. Temperature changes, sunlight exposure, and air exposure would also be a change in
variables that I would test. To expand on variables, the solutions could be more than just sucrose.
They could also include salt too. The questions that I would change would to see its change over
a longer period of time rather than just a day or two. This would allow me to create a bigger
graph that would really show its change over time.

References

Understanding Water Potential - Diffusion and Osmosis Investigation 4

 Thompson Formal Lab Report Rubric v08.2017
Name: __________________________
Aspect Criterion 2 3 4 5
Formatting Formatting follows guide perfectly: Title page, running head, page X
number, headings, font, indentation, bullet, spelling, grammar,
punctuation, appropriate tense, spacing, writing convention
Introduction Advanced written strategies. Includes context and relevance,
in-text citation as appropriate, personal engagement, contribution
to the experiment, pre-lab observations, purpose of lab
Question Clear, specific, focused, measurable. Written as a question or X X
problem.
Hypothesis Uses the general concept ​if y is done ,then z will occur because…,​ X
because statement is justified in the introduction, predicts a
measurable and quantifiable relationship, actually answers the
question proposed, each independent variable is addressed
Variables Uses full sentences, IV is the manipulated variable, IV includes
the compare value, DV is the measured value, DV may include
what the DV actually measures, CV identifies all controllable
factors
Materials Bullet format, two columns if long list, includes images of
equipment set-up as appropriate, all material is referenced in
methods section, includes key information*
Methods Clearly written, present tense, avoids first person and unnecessary
transitions, number format, provides protocols as necessary,
addresses controls, safety, potential errors, trials, & key
information*, includes all relevant steps, addresses data collection,
all material is included in the materials section
Data Clearly presents raw data, correctly processes the data (percent,
totals, mean, captions, standard deviation, labels, sequence),
tables, graphs, and/or diagrams, annotations, includes uncertainty
and significant figures, uses an appropriate number of trials
Analysis Provides an in depth analysis of the data, discusses: trends,
compares data among trials and variables, significance of data
points (meaning of the data or the reason for outliers); includes
sample calculations (i.e. percent, mean, median, mode, standard
deviation, ​+​ uncertainty, etc.), does not draw conclusions,
addresses all processed data, may include sources of error
Conclusion Confirms or rejects the proposed hypothesis, is according to the X
data, written in third person, compares analyzed data to proposed
hypothesis, compares analyzed data to accepted scientific
literature, provides an answer to the initial question
Evaluation Reflects on the strengths and weaknesses of experimental X
methods, material and apparatus, time management, sources
errors, and suggestions for improvement
Future Proposes multiple and specific ways to expand the experiment, X
Research leads the reader to consider new questions for investigation
References Provides references according to APA convention
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