Title: Osmosis

Aim: To investigate the effects of osmosis on potato tissue

Theory:
 Background information on osmosis

Apparatus:
3 250 ml beakers
Graduated cylinder
Plastic wrap or foil
Ruler
White Tile
Knife

Materials:
Potato
Salt solution
Distilled Water

Method:
 Method must be in past tense
 Write method in paragraph form

1. Label one beaker air, one beaker distilled water and the other beaker sucrose
solution. Place 100 ml of the appropriate liquid into 2 of the beakers and leave the
third beaker empty.

2. Using the knife cut three chip shapes from your potato, approximately 5 cm X 1 cm
X 1 cm. Trim off any skin. (Please measure accurately).

3. Record the measurement for each potato chip in your results table. Record the
condition of the potato chip before soaking (flexible or stiff). Place one potato chip
into each beaker.

4. Cover the beakers with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and allow them to sit for 30
minutes.

5. After 30 minutes, carefully remove the potato chips one at a time and blot them dry
on the outside. Measure the chips again (as accurately as possible) and record their
lengths in the results table. Observe any changes in the condition of each chip and
record in the table.

Observation:
 Table with a proper title below it
 Title should be underlined
 Title should be in CAPITAL LETTERS ONLY
 No title should read TABLE OF RESULTS FROM EXPERIMENT
 The title should be explanatory so that someone knows what is in the table
 Beaker Starting Final Change % Starting Final
length length in Change condition condition
(mm) (mm) length in (flexible/stiff (flexible/stiff)
(mm) Length )
(mm)
Distilled        
Water
1M Sucrose
sol.
Air

Sample Calculations:

Change in Length = Final Length – Starting Length

% Change in Length = change in length x 100

starting length

Discussion
Explain your results using your knowledge of osmosis. Use the following questions to help
write your discussion:

1. What happened to the lengths of potato in each type of liquid?

2. What happened to the condition of the potatoes in each type of liquid? Explain using
the terms flaccid and turgid.

3. Does the change in the texture fit with your explanation from question 1? Answer yes
or no and explain the reason for your answer.

4. In a hypotonic solution cells become turgid, while in a hypertonic solution cells

become flaccid. Does the % change in length support this statement? Explain.

5. Why did more water move one way than the other, across each cell wall in the potato
cylinders in the different solutions?

Conclusion:
 Related to the aim

Limitations:
 Anything that could have prevented the experiment from occurring as it should
 This does not include any mistakes on your part like not measuring the solutions or
the potato chips correctly

Not externally assessed

8 Osmosis in potatoes