The Ins and Outs of Osmosis

Ricky Conrad
Honors Biology 3
North Catholic Highschool
4/16/19
Introduction

A cell membrane is selectively permeable which means it only allows certain materials

into and out of the cells. The movement of these materials is called cell transport which comes in

two types, passive transport and active transport. Passive transport is the movement across a cell

membrane of particles or molecules in a high concentration to a low concentration[CITATION

Pas \l 1033 ]. There are three types of passive transport and one of these types is osmosis.

Osmosis is when water diffuses across a cell membrane. The net movement of the water is

determined by the environment around the cell which is called an osmotic environment[ CITATION

Alt \l 1033 ].

There are three types of osmotic environments, Hypotonic, hypertonic, and

isotonic[CITATION 213 \l 1033 ]. A hypotonic environment is when the ratio of water to solutes is

higher outside the cell than inside the cell. An isotonic environment is when the ratio of water to

solutes is equal outside the cell and inside the cell. A hypertonic environment is when the ratio of

water to solutes is higher inside the cell than outside the cell[CITATION 213 \l 1033 ]. There are

many real-world applications to osmosis. For example, stores will often spray produce with

water so that it will appear larger and plumper[ CITATION Alt \l 1033 ]. Another example is when

you salt vegetables to remove the moisture. Dialysis tubing is used within the lab, dialysis tubing

is a piece of tubing which is selectively permeable to water. It will be used to hold

solutions[ CITATION Alt \l 1033 ].

Part one of this lab shows how cells will act in different environments with the dialysis

tubing acting as the cell. It begins with six beakers, each containing a piece of dialysis tubing.

These pieces of dialysis tubing represent cells and the beakers represent the cells’

environment[ CITATION Alt \l 1033 ]. The first four beakers are filled with water while beakers five
and six are filled with a sixty percent glucose solution. The first beaker contains a piece of

dialysis tubing filled with pure water creating an isotonic environment. The second beaker

contains a piece of dialysis tubing filled with a twenty percent starch solution making a

hypotonic solution[ CITATION Dif19 \l 1033 ]. The third and fourth beakers are hypotonic as well

with dialysis tubing containing forty and sixty percent starch solutions respectively. The fifth

beaker contains a piece of dialysis tubing filled with pure water, but because the beaker is filled

with sixty percent starch solution it makes an hypertonic environment. The sixth beaker has a

piece of dialysis tubing filled with an eighty percent starch solution which creates a hypotonic

environment[ CITATION Dif19 \l 1033 ].

Part two will show the selectivity of the membrane and if particles other than water will

be able to move through the membrane. It is similar to part one in that it contains a beaker and a

piece of dialysis tubing. Beaker is filled with twenty drops of iodine in addition to the water and

the dialysis tubing is filled with water and an unspecified amount of starch[ CITATION Dif19 \l 1033

]. This creates a hypotonic environment which causes water to come into the tubing at a faster

rate than it escapes. The objective is to find if the tubing is permeable to more than just water and

in this case iodine.

In part one the independent variable is the solutions within the dialysis tubing and in the

beaker and the dependent variable is the mass of the tubing. In part two the independent variable

is if the iodine is in the water and the dependent variable is if iodine enters the tubing. In part one

the constants are the beakers which are each filled with 200 milliliters of water and the dialysis

tubing in each setup contains five milliliters of water[ CITATION Dif19 \l 1033 ]. In addition, the

length of time that the tubing is submerged is the same. The control group for this experiment is

beaker one as it has pure water both in the beaker and the dialysis tubing and the experimental
groups are the rest of the beakers. In part two the constants are the amount of water and amount

of iodine in the water. There is no control group in part two as there is only one setup[ CITATION

Dif19 \l 1033 ]. The hypothesis for part one is that beaker one will remain a similar mass to the

beginning of the experiment, beakers two, three, four, and six will gain mass over the duration of

the experiment, and beaker five is predicted to lose mass. Part two’s hypothesis is that iodine will

be able to pass from the beaker through the semi permeable membrane of the dialysis

tubing[ CITATION Dif19 \l 1033 ].

Materials

Part One

 6 beakers

 810 milliliters of water

 6 strips of dialysis tubing

 string

 5 milliliters of 20% starch solution

 5 milliliters of 40% starch solution

 5 milliliters of 60% starch solution

 5 milliliters of 80% starch solution

 400 milliliters of 60% glucose solution

Part Two

 Beaker

 205 milliliters of water

 20 drops of iodine
  1 piece of dialysis tubing

 String

 Starch

Procedures

Part 1

1. Gather 6 sections of dialysis tubing from soaking in water. Retrieve one piece of tubing

and take one end of the tubing and fold it over and across then take a piece of string and

tie it so that there will be no leaking in the future. Repeat this with the other 5 pieces of

tubing

2. Fill each piece with a solution then fold and tie the other end as before and ensure that it

is remembered which piece of tubing contains which solution.

a. Fill two of these bags with 5 milliliters of water .

b. Fill one of these bags with 5 milliliters of 20% starch solution.

c. Fill one of these bags with 5 milliliters of 40% starch solution.

d. Fill one of these bags with 5 milliliters of 60% starch solution.

e. Fill one of these bags with 5 milliliters of 80% starch solution.

3. Measure and record the weight of each piece of tubing in grams.

4. Fill four of the beakers with 200 milliliters of water each and the other two with 200

milliliters of 60% glucose solution.

5. Place one of the pieces of dialysis tubing containing water and the piece of tubing

containing the 80% starch solution in the beakers containing the 60% glucose solution.
 Then place the rest of the tubing in the beakers containing water. Do this step with all the

tubing simultaneously.

6. At 5, 10, and 15 minutes after the tubing is added to the beaker remove them, dry them,

and then weigh them once again and record the findings. Once recorded, place the tubing

back into the beakers simultaneously until the next interval.

Part two

1. Retrieve a piece of tubing and take one end of the tubing and fold it over and across then

take a piece of string and tie it to ensure that there will be no leaking in the future.

2. Insert 5 milliliters of water to the dialysis tubing.

3. Add a small scoop of starch. The exact measurement does not matter.

4. Rinse off and dry the outside of the tubing to ensure that there is no starch on it.

5. Fill the beaker with 200 milliliters of water and then add and additional twenty drops of

iodine.

6. Place the tubing into the beaker then observe and take note of the color inside and outside

the tubing.

7. Allow the setup to sit overnight before continuing with the procedure.

8. Record any change in color within or without the dialysis tubing.

[ CITATION Dif19 \l 1033 ]

Results
Part One

Table 1: Mass over time

Bag 1 Bag 2 Bag 3 Bag 4 Bag 5 Bag 6
0 min 5 5 5 5 5 5
5 min 5.33 5.2 5.59 5.33 5.22 5.55
10 min 5.419 5.337 5.89 5.64 4.98 5.555
15 min 5.439 5.519 6.107 5.869 4.79 5.585
20 min 5.459 5.559 6.227 6.009 4.49 5.771
This table tells the mass of each bag over time.

Mass(Grams) vs Time(Min)
6.5

5.5
Mass(Grams)

4.5

4
0 5 10 15 20

Time(Minutes)

Bag 1 Bag 2 Bag 3 Bag 4 Bag 5 Bag 6

Figure 1: Mass over time
The figure shows the how the mass of the tubing changes over time. Bag 1 increased in mass
after 5 minutes then stayed constant for the rest of the duration. Bag 2 increased steadily for 15
minutes and then slowed down for the last 5 minutes. Bag 3 Increased significantly over the
duration, but also gradually slowed in growth. Bag 4 increased moderately over the course of the
experiment, but gradually slowed in growth. Bag 5 increased slightly over the first 5 minutes and
then significantly decreased for the rest of the time. Bag 6 increases significantly for the first 5
minutes then slows considerably for the next 10 minutes and then finally increases for the last 5
minutes

Part Two

In the beginning of the lab the solution in the beaker was tinged yellow and the mixture inside

the dialysis tubing was a cloudy white and weighed 6 grams. When the lab concluded, the

solution in the beaker was clearer, and the solution in the tubing had become purple and weighed

6.5 grams.
Discussion

Most events that occurred in the lab were expected for the most part. There were some

minor exceptions in part 1, like when the dialysis tubing that was meant to be in a hypertonic

environment increased during the first five minutes of the experiment and when the dialysis

tubing filled with that was in the beaker with water increased in mass despite being in an isotonic

environment. All the other setups increased and decreased as expected. In most of the setups the

rate of change slowed as the lab went on. This makes sense as the further away something is

from equilibrium the greater the rate of diffusion is. In part 2 the starch turned purple as a

reaction to contact with the iodine. This means that in addition to water, the dialysis tubing is

also permeable to iodine.

There are some areas were error may have been possible. Example of this include the

possibility of the dialysis tubing being recorded as the wrong piece as they look similar or a case

in which the string binding the dialysis tubing is loose and allows the contents to escape. Another

error that may happen is if starch remains on the outside of the tubing in part 2 which would

create the appearance that starch was able to diffuse through the tubing. A final way that the lab

could go wrong is if the dialysis tubing is switched during the weighing process and then

dropped in the incorrect beaker. One thing that might be done in the future if this lab were to be

repeated is to create an easy way to identify the different dialysis tubing pieces such as different

colored string, or something similar.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this lab was set in to parts to explore and try different aspects of osmosis.

Part 1 explained how a cell would act in different environments using dialysis tubing to represent
a cell and a beaker to create the environments. This shows how the cells will attempt to reach

equilibrium using diffusion. The second part is meant to visibly show the diffusion and also

determine if a substance other than water is able to pass through the selectively permeable

membrane. These things are shown by the purple color that signified the iodine entered the

dialysis tubing.
References
Alton Biggs, W. C. (2012). Biology. columbus, OH: McGrawHill Education.
(2019). Diffusion through cell membranes.
LumenCandela. (n.d.). Passive Transport. Retrieved from courses.lumenlearning.com:
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-biology/chapter/passive-transport/
MindTouch. (n.d.). 2.13 Osmosis. Retrieved from bio.libretexts.org:
https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology/Book
%3A_Introductory_Biology_(CK-12)/2%3A_Cell_Biology/2.13%3A_Osmosis