1.

What is the texture and appearance of the potato strips after being immersedin the various
concentrations of sucrose solution?
From petri dish A to E, texture of potato strips are firm and turgid. While inpetri dish F and G,
potato strips are soft.
2. What do the axes on your graph represent?
X-axis represents concentration of sucrose solution. Y-axis represents percentage difference
in length.
3. How do you determine the concentration of sucrose solution which is isotonic to the cell sap
of the potato from your graph?
The point where the graph cuts the x-axis indicates that there is no difference in the
percentage of the length of the potato strip. This means that the concentration of sucrose
solution (your reading from graph; ex: 0.43M) at this point is isotonic to the cell sap of the
plant tissue. Therefore, the concentration of the cell sap of the potato strips is isotonic to
0.43 M sucrose solution.
4. Based on the experiment, discuss the process of osmosis in the various concentrations of
sucrose solutions.
If the solution is hypotonic to the concentration of cell sap, then water diffuses into the
potato cells by osmosis. If the solution is hypertonic to the concentration of cell sap, then
water diffuses out the potato cells by osmosis. If the solution is isotonic to the concentration
of cell sap, then the rate of water movement in and out of the cell is same. The cell maintains
their normal appearance.

Questions:
Why did some potato samples gain water and others lose water? Was there any pattern?
When you drew the best fit line through your data and dropped the vertical line to the x-axis,
what salt concentration did you obtain (Estimate if it is between numbers)? What does this
mean for the potato?
Why can't we use seawater to irrigate our crops?
What happens when a thirsty person drinks salt water to try to quench their thirst?
Why does salted popcorn dry your lips?
What happens to a cell's water when the exterior liquid is saltier than its interior?
What happens to water outside the cell when the interior is saltier than its surroundings?
When a cell gains water, what happens to its size and weight?
When a cell loses water, what happens to its size and weight?
When you put limp celery stalks in water, they firm up. Why?
Challenge question: Saltwater fish are hypotonic (less salty) to their surroundings while
freshwater fish are hypertonic (more salty) to their surroundings. Assuming the salt can't
move, what must each fish do with its fluids in order to compensate for the difference in
salinity between the body and the surrounding environment?