An Experiment on Determining The Change in Mass

of a ( Solanum Tuberosum) in Different Solutions

Experimented on: November 2, 2022

Jad El Ghaoui

IB-1 B

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Research Question:
To what extent does the immersion of Solanum Tuberosum in solutions of 0.0 M to 0.6
M placed in plastic cups ( covered ) for a time of 24 hours affect their mass (g) and
volume (ml), which are respectively measured by a digital balance, and a Vernier
Caliper?

Aim of The Experiment:

To determine how much the Solanum Tuberosum have changed in mass, volume, when
dipped in a variety of sucrose solutions ranging from 0.00 M to 0.6 M.

Hypothesis:

Null Hypothesis: After conducting the experiment, there will be no significant correlation
between the sucrose solutions of different concentrations, and the mass/volume Solanum
Tuberosum, for the same time. ( 24H)

Alternative Hypothesis: After conducting this experiment, it will be proven that there is a
significant correlation between the sucrose solutions of different concentrations and the
mass and volume of the Solanum Tuberosum after 24 hours of time.

Introduction:

Both, animal and plant cells undergo a process called osmosis which is the process in
which the solvent ( water) moves an area of low solute concentration to a high solute
concentration through a semipermeable membrane until the water potential on both sides
is equal, and the solute concentration is equal; this is noted as the isotonic point. In
addition, there exists a case where it is hypertonic; meaning that the solute concentration
outside of the cell is greater than the concentration in the cell ( more water potential), and

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this means that water will flow into the cell, consequently the cell will rupture and burst.
Furthermore, there exists a hypotonic situation, where the solute concentration of the
inside of the cell is greater ( less water potential) than the one outside of the cell ( more
water potential) . Water will flow out of the cell, causing it to shrink. According to similar
lab experiments conducted on the potato tubers, some were able to shrink, meaning a
decrease in the volume and mass and in size and the others expanded, as the volume and
mass increased depending on the sucrose solution they were put in (Clegg, 2014).

Figure 1.1: This is a graph taken from Chegg.com, constructed by other students in ‘Kelly High
School’, which shows the isotonic point (0.3 M) attained by them for a potato tuber placed in different
sucrose solution.

Variables:

Independent Variables: ( Variable that is deliberately/purposely changed)

- The 7 sucrose solutions with different molar concentrations:

(0.00M, 0.1M, 0.2M, 0.3M, 0.4M, 0.5M, 0.6M) prepare by dissolving masses ranging
from 34.2-95 g in 1 liter of H2O

Dependent Variables: (It is measured, and dependent on the changes in the

independent variable.)
- They are the percent change in volume and mass which are determined by: The
mass difference/ initial mass x 100, where the mass difference is the final mass -
initial mass.

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Controlled Variables:
Controlled Variable How it’s Controlled
All the potato tubers for
The duration/timespan of all sucrose solutions were
the potato cylinders dipped into the solution at
dipped into the solution. the same minute, and
removed as well after 24
hours.
The temperature of the The temperature of the
solution and the pressure solution was preserved
of the environment. and kept constant by
placing a piece of
aluminum foil, covering
the cup to prevent any
temperature change or
evaporation.
In addition, the
temperature and pressure
of the environment was
kept constant by placing
the solutions in the same
closed laboratory.
The initial length of the The potato tubers were This variable was
Potato tubers. measured and adjusted to controlled in order to
be exactly 5 cm for every attain reliable and correct
Why it’s controlled
This variable is
controlled since, if some
potato tubers were kept
for a shorter/longer
amount of time, this
would create an
inequality between the
results. Meaning that
some potatoes will
absorb more water than
the others.
The temperature variable
is controlled since if a
change in temperature
occurs, then the rate of
osmosis would be
significantly affected, not
allowing correct results
to be obtained, regarding
the percent change in
mass and volume. As, an
increase/decrease in
temperature and pressure
would influence the rate
of diffusion/osmosis, due
to an increase in kinetic
energy, affecting the
motion of the molecules.
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 sucrose solution. results at the end of this
experiment. Where,
having potato tubers of
different lengths would
increase/decrease the rate
of osmosis due to a
difference in the SA:V
ratio.
Type of potato cylinder The same type of potato ( Different potatoes may
(specimen). Solanum Tuberosum) contain different solute
was used to drill out the 5 concentrations in the
cm cylinders needed for cells, thus, the same
this experiment. potato was used to ensure
the same properties for
every one.
Amount/volume of Every sucrose solution of The same volume of
sucrose solutions. 100 ml measured by a solution was placed in
graduated cylinder of 100 every plastic cup in order
ml from 0.0M to 0.6M to guarantee equality
was put into a plastic cup between all potato tubers
and the amount of water
they intake/outtake.
Therefore, the purity of
the results collected is
promised.
Time of cylinder All the 5cm cylinders In order to prevent some
preparation. were prepared at the same cylinders from totally
time at 8:am. drying out, and thus
affecting the rate of
osmosis.

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Type of cups the The same type of plastic This was done to ensure
solutions were placed cups {6} ( standard type the same environment
into. polypropylene) was used where the osmosis is
to fill the solutions in. taking place.

Table 1

Materials:

- Vernier Caliper ± 0.01 ml

- 6 plastic cups ( polypropylene)
- 7 graduated cylinders of 100 ml ± 0.5
- Scalpel
- Ruler ( 10cm) ± 0.01 cm
- Digital electronic balance ± 0.01 g
- Cork borer
- Bucket
- Scientific calculator ( Casio fx 991 ES plus)
- 1 Big potato ( Solanum Tuberosum)
- Aluminum foil ( small wrap)
- Labels ( to label the cups)
- Pen ( Stabilo)
- Permanent Marker
- Weighing boat
- Paper towels
- Pipette

Procedure:

1) Prepare 100 ml of distilled water using a 100 ml ± 0.5 ml and pour it into a plastic
cup labeled 0.0M.

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 2) Obtain 100 ml of every sucrose solution from 0.1 M to 0.6 M using 6 other
different 100 ml ± 0.5ml graduated cylinders.
3) Label the solutions with a permanent marker and sticky labels corresponding to
their sucrose solutions Immediately after preparing the them in the cups,
4) Drill out 8 cylinders from the potato ( Solanum Tuberosum) using a cork borer, in
order to ensure a spare cylinder for any errors/mistakes they may occur.
5) Cut out the edges of the cylinders.
6) Measure the length of every cylinder, and trim them to be 5 cm exactly, using a
scalpel and a Vernier Kaliper.
7) Place every cylinder on a paper towel once you are finished with preparing it.
8) Measure also the diameter of every cylinder using the Vernier Kaliper, making
sure in the end that every cylinder has the same diameter and length.

9) Place the weighing boat on the Digital electronic balance and press ‘tare’ in order
to avoid considering the mass of the weighing boat in the calculation.
10)Hold every cylinder gently, and measure the mass of every one to the nearest
0.01g.
11) Record your results in Table 2.
12)Gently hold the potato cylinders and place one into every solution that was
prepared previously.
13)Rip a piece of aluminum foil and cover every plastic cup after placing the potato
cylinders in them.
14)Place the plastic cups in a safe place, and incubate for about 24 hours.
15)Take the plastic cups after 24 hours and remove the cylinders from them one by
one.
16)Record the results in Table 2 after weighing the final mass of the cylinders one by
one ( in order not to forget the measurements) and measuring their diameter and
length.

Safety Measures and Precautions:

- Long pants, and long sleeves should be worn before entry into the laboratory.
- Proper lab attire should be worn.
- Upon entry, lab coats and gloves should be worn as well to prevent contamination.
- For females, hair should be tied at all times.
- No food or drinks allowed in the laboratory.

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 - Do not taste or smell any chemicals.
- Use the equipment for the correct purpose.
- Be familiar with the emergency exit(s)
- Safely use of lab equipment such as the scalpel.
- Be aware of your surroundings.
- To avoid contamination, properly clean the area where you are going to perform
the experiment.
- Make sure you close every container you open to avoid
evaporation/contamination.

Ethical Measures:
No ethical measures were needed.

Environmental Measures:

In order to minimize any environmental impact, only one Solanum Tuberosum was
efficiently used.

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Raw Data:

Table 2 represents the initial masses, lengths, and diameters taken before inserting the potato cylinders in the
sucrose solutions.

Sucrose 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Molarity
mol/L

Initial length
(cm)
± 0.01cm
Trial 1 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00
Trial 2 4.50 4.60 4.60 4.40 4.70 4.70 4.40
Trial 3 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00
Initial
diameter
(cm)
± 0.01cm
Trial 1 0.73 0.72 0.73 0.74 0.73 0.72 0.73
Trial 2 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60
Trial 3 0.61 0.62 0.62 0.62 0.61 0.62 0.61
Initial mass
(g) ± 0.01g

Trial 1 3.32 3.37 3.33 3.19 3.42 3.41 3.27

Trial 2 3.71 3.58 3.35 3.64 3.72 3.90 3.61
Trial 3 3.32 3.44 3.34 3.45 3.37 3.28 3.27

Table 2

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Table 3 represents the final masses, lengths, and diameter taken before inserting the potato cylinders
in the sucrose solutions.

Sucrose 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Molarity
mol/L

Final length
(cm)
± 0.01cm
Trial 1 5.40 5.10 5.20 4.80 4.60 4.60 4.50
Trial 2 5.00 4.80 4.70 4.50 4.50 4.40 4.00
Trial 3 5.30 5.20 5.10 4.92 4.70 4.70 4.50
Final
diameter
(cm)
± 0.01cm
Trial 1 0.81 0.78 0.77 0.62 0.55 0.5 0.3
Trial 2 0.70 0.65 0.65 0.51 0.50 0.40 0.35
Trial 3 0.70 0.68 0.65 0.52 0.49 0.41 0.36
Final mass
(g)± 0.01g

Trial 1 4.11 3.67 3.52 2.91 2.84 2.40 2.08

Trial 2 4.25 3.88 3.51 3.30 3.22 3.02 2.31
Trial 3 3.99 3.79 3.48 3.25 2.89 2.29 2.04

Table 3

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 Data Analysis:
The raw data that was collected for this experiment is to be processed, in order to
determine the percent change in volume and mass of the potato cylinders after dipping
them into the sucrose solution to further determine if there is an increase or decrease in
each solution, thus indicating how osmosis took place.. Firstly, the volume will be
calculated by the following formula: Volume = 𝜋. Length. R2 For example,
3.14X5.00X(0.73/2)2 =2.09 cm3 . As for the average volume, or the mean of
volume, the following formula should be applied: (V1+V2+V3)/3= Vav. For
example: (2.09+2.08+2.07)/3 = 2.08cm3 . As for the percent change in volume, the
formula applied is: [(Vf - Vi)/ Vi ] X 100, and similarly for the percent change in
mass, [(mf - mi)/ mi ] X 100.

Table 4: indicating the initial, final, and average volumes for all 3 trials.

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average

Sucrose Initial Final Initial Final Initial Final Initial Final

Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume
Molarity
(mol/L) cm3 cm3 cm3 cm3 cm3 cm3 cm3 cm3

0.0 2.09 2.78 1.27 1.92 1.46 2.04 1.60 2.25

0.1 2.03 2.44 1.29 1.59 1.50 1.89 1.60 1.97

0.2 2.09 2.42 1.29 1.56 1.50 1.69 1.62 1.89

0.3 2.14 1.45 1.24 0.92 1.50 1.04 1.62 1.13

0.4 2.09 1.09 1.32 0.88 1.46 0.89 1.62 0.95

0.5 2.03 0.90 1.32 0.55 1.50 0.62 1.62 0.69

0.6 2.09 0.32 1.24 0.38 1.46 0.46 1.60 0.38

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 Table 5: Indicating the volume difference and percent change in volume.

Sucrose concentration Volume difference Percent change in

(mol/L) Cm3 volume (%)

0.0 0.65 40.63

0.1 0.37 23.13

0.2 0.27 16.89

0.3 -0.49 -30.25

0.4 -0.67 -41.36

0.5 -0.93 -57.41

0.6 -1.22 -76.25

Table 5

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 Table 6: Indicating the initial, final masses, and the average masses for all 3 trials.

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average

Sucrose Initial Final Initial Final Initial Final Initial Final

Mass Mass Mass Mass Mass Mass Mass Mass
Molarity
(g) (g) (g) (g) (g) (g) (g) (g)
(mol/L) ± 0.01g ± 0.01g ± 0.01g ± 0.01g ± 0.01g ± 0.01g ± 0.01g ± 0.01g

0.0 3.32 4.11 3.71 4.25 3.32 3.99 3.45 4.12

0.1 3.37 3.67 3.58 3.38 3.44 3.79 3.46 3.61

0.2 3.33 3.52 3.35 3.51 3.34 3.78 3.34 3.40

0.3 3.19 2.91 3.64 3.30 3.45 3.25 3.43 3.15

0.4 3.42 2.84 3.72 3.22 3.37 2.89 3.50 2.98

0.5 3.41 2.40 3.90 3.02 3.28 2.29 3.35 2.57

0.6 3.27 2.08 3.61 2.31 3.27 2.04 3.38 2.14

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Table 7: Indication the mass difference and the percent change in volume.

Sucrose concentration Mass difference (g) Percent change in

(mol/L) mass(%)
± 0.01%

0.0 0.67 19.42

0.1 0.15 4.34

0.2 0.06 1.80

0.3 -0.28 -8.16

0.4 -0.52 -14.90

0.5 -0.78 -23.28

0.6 -1.24 -36.69

Table 7

Graph 1

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Graph 1 Analysis:

This graph represents the percent change in mass (%) as a function of the sucrose concentration

(mol/L). To begin with, as the sucrose concentration increases from 0.00 M to 0.22 M, the

percent change in mass drops from 20% to 0%, indicating that it has reached the isotonic point at

0.22 M, where the concentration inside the potato cylinders and the concentration outside ( in the

cup) is equal. Furthermore, as the sucrose concentration continues to increase to a maximum of

0.6M, the percent change in mass also decreases to a negative value of 37%. According to

investopedia, “ R-Squared is a statistical measure of fit that indicates how much variation of a

dependent variable is explained by the independent variable(s) in a regression model.”

Furthermore, in the graph above, the r2 value obtained was 0.98, meaning that 98% of the

change in the dependent variable is described by the variance in the independent variable. Hence,

it can be concluded that the two variables are negatively related, where as the sucrose

concentration (mol/L) increases, the percent change in mass (%) on the other hand decreases.

Graph 2

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Graph 2 Analysis:

This graph represents the percent change in volume (%) as a function of the sucrose

concentration (mol/L). To begin with, as the sucrose concentration increases from 0.00M to 0.22

M, the percent change in volume decreases from about 45% to 0%, indicating that it has reached

the isotonic point at 0.22 M, where the concentration inside the potato cylinders and the

concentration outside ( in the cup) is equal. Furthermore, as the sucrose concentration continues

to increase to a maximum of 0.6M, the percent change in volume also decreases to -75%. The r2

value represents how much the dependent variable is explained by the independent variable. IN

this case, the r2 value obtained in the graph was 0.968, meaning that 96.8% of the change in the

dependent variable ( percent change in mass) is described by the variance in the independent

variable ( sucrose concentration.) Thus, it can be concluded that the two variables are negatively

related, where as the sucrose concentration (mol/L) increases, the percent change in volume (%)

also decreases.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, based on this experiment, and after processing and analyzing the data collected, it

can be deduced that the immersion of the Solanum Tuberosum cylinders in sucrose solutions

from 0.00M to 0.6M, has decreased the mass and volume of the cylinders ( where they were

hypotonic, meaning that the solute concentration in the potato is greater than outside) to a point

called the isotonic point ( previously explained). In this experiment, the isotonic point was

determined to be about 0.22 and after this point, a decrease in both the percent change in mass

and volume was realized meaning that the cylinder is hypertonic and the solute concentration

outside is greater than the concentration in the tuber. This change was reflected in both graphs,

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where the percent change in mass and volume decreased, as the concentration of sucrose solution

increased. Thus, the two variables are negatively related. Behind the results obtained, the theory

is the osmosis of H2O, where water moves from an area of low solute concentration to an area

of high solute concentration, which was seen in the graphs. The findings related to the osmolarity

of the potato cylinders come in agreement with other findings in a study performed by Amanda

Hsieh, where the both graphs look alike in terms of the best fit line, for the same sucrose

concentrations and type of potato ( Hsieh, 2010). Therefore, this proves/ validates the alternative

hypothesis which mentions that “After conducting this experiment, it will be proven that there is

a significant correlation between the sucrose solutions of different concentrations and the mass

and volume of the Solanum Tuberosum after 24 hours of time.”

Strengths of this investigation:

The strengths in this experiment are that the data collected was reliable,

which is explained by the r2 value ( 0.98) obtained in the graphs, which

reflects that there is a strong correlation between the two variables. In

addition, the same type of potato was used, and the same specimen as well, in

order to guarantee the validity of the data collected.

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Limitations and Errors:

Problem Explanation of Improvement Explanation of

Problem Improvement

Removing/handling The removal of the Using gloves, to Using gloves would

the potato tubers after potato tubers physically pull the be an amazing
immersion in sucrose occurred using metal cylinders out using solution to this
solution for 24 H. forceps, which made the fingers. problem as it ensures
the cylinders to fall that the cylinders stay
apart. This happened in shape.
since the cylinders
have become
sensitive, and delicate
and the use of sharp
forceps affected its
malleability.

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References:

Clegg, C.J. (2014). Biology (2nd edition). Hodder Education.

Fernando, J. (2021). R-Squared Formula, Regression, and Interpretations.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/r-squared.asp

Hseih, A. (2010). The Effect of Concentration of Sucrose Solution on the Osmosis in Potato. IB

Lab Report.

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