SOPHIA ABOU-NEHRA

DATE: 16/09/21

LAB NO: 1

TITLE: Osmosis

AIM: To investigate the effect of different solutions on potato strips.

MATERIALS:

Potato strips (3 strips- 6x 1x1) Knife

Distilled water
Petri dish
Salt solution (concentrated)
Stopwatch

PROCEDURES:

1. Cut three strips of potato six cm long, one centimeter wide and one centimeter in height.
2. Record the mass of each strip of potato.
3. Set up three test tubes and label then A, B and C, respectively.
4. Use a tweezers to place a strip of potato into petri dish A, B and C.
5. Leave test tube A empty, fill test tube B with water and fill test tube C with concentrated salt
solution.
6. Record the mass of each potato strip at five-minute intervals for six readings (25 minutes. )
7. Plot a graph for each strip showing the change in mass during the experiment.

OBSERVATION:

{ INSERT YOUR TABLE OF OBSERVATION HERE FOR THE DATA THAT WAS COLLECTED.}

{A PICTURE OF YOUR GRAPH FOLLOWS YOUR TABLE MUST BE HAND DRAWN. }

DISCUSSION:

{ REPLACE THE QUESTIONS WITH A PARAGRAPH ANSWERING THE GUIDING QUESTIONS.}

1. Define Osmosis
2. What effect did air, water and concentrated salt solution have on the strips of potato?
3. What type of solution was found in B and C?
4. What was the role of test tube A?
5. What trend was noticed from the plotted graph?

Osmosis is a process where water molecules move from a high concentrated solution to a less
concentrated one by passing across a semipermeable membrane. The potato was unaffected by the
water since it had nothing to absorb or release. In contrast, the potato expanded when submerged
in water because it absorbed the water from the tube.  Finally, when the potato was submerged in
the salt solution, it shrunk because the salt on the outside of the potato absorbed the water from
inside the potato. The solution found in B was distilled water and the solution found in C was salt
water. The role of test tube A was the compare the changes that occurred in test tube B and C with
the original potato strip and it also proves that you need a solvent in order for Osmosis to take
place. A trend observed from the plotted graph was that test tube B continuously increased in the
size of the potato.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
 Osmosis occurs in the large and small intestine of the human living system. The overall theory links
with this investigation because during osmosis, the water molecules move from an area of high
concentration to an area of low concentration through a semi-permeable membrane. This investigation links
with the theory of osmosis because the water molecules moved from outside the tube to inside the potato
in test tube B, and the water molecules from inside the potato moved outside the potato, into the tube, in
test tube C.

LIMITATION/ SOURCE OR ERROR/ASSUMPTION:

Some limitations that were observed while conducting this experiment were cutting the potato before-hand.
By doing this, the potato tends to brown because of exposure to air which can affect the experiment.
Another limitation that was noticed was the different sizes in potatoes. If they were cut into 3 different
measurements, the results would not be accurate. Lastly, when you go to measure your potato and you
don’t calibrate your scale, it also affects the result because it was not measured from a zero-starting point.

CONCLUSION:

After conducting this experiment, i observed that the potato strip in test tube A stayed constant, it
did not increase nor decrease in weight. In test tube B, the potato strip increased by 0.3 kilograms,
so this is an example of a hypotonic solution. On the other hand, the potato strip in test tube C
decreased by 0.7 kilograms due to the salt that was mixed into the water, so this is an example of a
hypertonic solution.

REFLECTION:

One real-life scenario is when your fingers are submerged underwater or have been underwater for
a long period of time. Our fingertips become wrinkled after spending some time in the bathtub or
immersing them in water. Osmosis is also responsible for that. Our fingers' skin absorbs water and
expands or bloats, resulting in pruned or wrinkled fingers. The skin acts as the semi-permeable
membrane.