Experiment No. 2.

NAME: Kathleen Arranchado DATE PERFORMED: December 8, 2020

SECTION: ST12P5 DATE SUBMITTED: December 9, 2020

INVESTIGATING OSMOSIS

Introduction:

Molecules undergo constant motion, which enables them to move from one region to another.
The motion of a molecule in solution is constantly affected by collisions with other molecules, which
results in random motion. During osmosis, the diffusion of water molecules down a concentration
gradient occurs across a semipermeable membrane. A semi– permeable membrane is a membrane
which allows some materials to pass through while rejecting others.

Objectives:

● To predict the net movement of molecules across a semipermeable membrane;

● To differentiate between different degrees of concentration gradients;
● To understand clearly the process of osmosis.

Materials:

Potato Salt Sugar

Water Petri Dish Spoon
Marker Masking Tape Cutter or Scalpel

Procedures:

1. Fill three dishes with water.

2. In the first dish, add 2-3 tablespoons of salt, add 2-3 tablespoon of sugar to the second dish,
and to the third dish, simply use tap water, and stir it in. Make sure you label which dish has
the salt, sugar, and which dish doesn’t.
3. Make three thin slices of potato – ½ cm thick. (Do not peel the potato.)
4. Place each potato slice into each of the solutions, and leave the slices in the solutions for
half an hour.
5. Record your observations.

Questions:

1. What do the potato slices represent in this experiment?

-You will notice some immediate differences in the potato slices. The color of the salted water
one is dark brown; not a nice image of how you would like your potatoes preserved. The one in
the regular water looks like a nice white freshly cut piece of potato. Moving on to the flexible
test, the regular water one again feels firm and crisp. The saltwater potato is bendy and doesn’t
snap at all.

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2. Which prepared solutions were hypertonic to the potato cell? How do you know?

-Potato slices are added to a high concentration of salt solution (hypertonic). The water

from inside the potato moves out of the potato cells to the salt solution, which causes
the potato cells to lose turgor pressure.

3. Describe the net movement of the substance in question as it relates to these solutions. What
process is occurring in the plant cell? Knowing this, why do you think workers in a grocery store
spray vegetables with water?

-Turgor pressure in a plant cell pushes the cytoplasm against the nonliving cell wall. The water
pressure dries out the cells and the vegetables as a whole. The vegetables dries out and
becomes more flaccid. When water is sprayed on the vegetables it diffuses on the cell wall
meaning that the water goes from an area of high concentration which is outside of the cell, to
an area of low concentration which is inside the cell, through a selectively permeable
membrane. Since the diffusion uses water, this is called osmosis, the diffusion of water.

4. Which prepared solutions were hypotonic to the potato cell? How do you know? 

-This solution is referred to as hypotonic. The water will diffuse into the cells of the potato,
causing them to swell; the cells may be characterized as being turgid or swollen. The water will
diffuse out of the potato's cells, and evaporate into the surrounding air.

5. Were any of the prepared solutions isotonic to the potato cell? How do you know?

-The pure water is isotonic to potatoes, because it has the same tonicity as the potato,
however, due to the possibility of errors in this experiment, my calculations show the potato in
pure water gaining mass and length, possibly from minerals/debris from the tap wate r

6. Would this experiment work with animal cells? If no, propose a reason why the data may be
skewed in this situation.

-No because the experiment would not work with animal cells. Since animal cells do not have a
cell wall, they would either burst or shrivel from the amount of osmosis that is taking place
during the experiment depending on if the water is leaving or entering the cell. Since potato
cells have a cell wall, they are more rigid and do not burst or shrivel during osmosis.

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Table 1. Observations

OBSERVATIONS (AFTER HALF AN HOUR)

TYPE OF SOLUTIONS
COLOR TEXTURE FLEXIBILITY OTHER
TEST OBSERVATIONS
   
SALT SOLUTIONS Dark Brown The regular The saltwater
water one again potato is bendy
feels firm and and doesn’t snap
crisp. at all.

       
SUGAR SOLUTIONS

       
WATER

CONCLUSION:

A potato is made up of tiny parts called cells. These cells contain mostly water and are surrounded by a
cell membrane or skin. Water can pass in and out of this membrane through the process of osmosis.
Water will move from an area of low salt concentration to an area of high salt concentration.