Cellular Transport via Osmosis and

Diffusion Lab Log

Learning Outcomes:
● Observe a semipermeable membrane in action.
● Explore how concentration gradients affect diffusion and osmosis rates.
● Observe osmoregulation at the cellular level.
● Design an experiment, conduct the experiment, collect data, analyze, graph and
interpret the results from your experiment.
● Review use of the microscope and making wet mounts.

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Dialysis
Dialysis is defined as the separation of substances in solution by means of their
unequal diffusion through semipermeable membranes.The process of separating larger
molecules from smaller molecules that occurs in kidney dialysis for example, where a
machine takes a role of a kidney and filtrates blood.

Task 1 | Virtual Demo

1. Click Here to perform a virtual dialysis experiment and fill out the following table:

Bag Concentration Initial Final Observations

 Inside/Outsid Weight Weight Direction of Tonicity inside Tonicity
e (g) (g) water the dialysis bag outside the
movement dialysis bag

A /

B /

C /

D /

E /

2. How did the difference in solute concentration affect the movement of water in the
dialysis virtual demo?

Task 2 | Dialysis Experiment

Materials:
● Three (3) dialysis bags per table. Dialysis tubing/bags are made of an artificial
selectively permeable membrane that is permeable to water, but not to sucrose.
● One scale per table
● Six (6) clips per table
● Small rubber bands
● Three (3) 400 mL beakers per table
● 15 mL 0% sucrose solution
● 15 mL 10% sucrose solution
● 15 mL 20% sucrose solution

Some materials will be located at the common tables, such as the sucrose solution. Please only
take the amount allotted to your team so that there is enough for the other teams.

Based on the materials available for the dialysis experiment, answer the following questions:

3. Question: What research question can you answer with the materials provided?
 4. Approach: What approach will you use to answer the question? (based on the materials
provided). This is NOT a methods section or It should not be numbered or written as
instructions. It should be a description of the general experimental design, what
treatments will you use, what are your controls, etc.).

General Protocol:

For each treatment/control: Place 250 ml of water into a 400 mL beaker. Label the beaker with
the designated treatment. Take one dialysis bag, tie one end with a rubber band, and secure it
with a clamp. Add 10 mL of the selected sucrose solution to the bag. Secure the opening of the
bag by tying another rubber band and securing it with a clamp.

*For this experiment to work you need to make sure that you have tight seals for both ends of
the dialysis bag.

Rinse the bag set up and check for leaks, add more ties if needed. Take an initial measurement
by weighing each bag on the scale. Record your initial measurement. Wait until all the bags
have been set up before dipping the bags in the beaker.

Once set, don’t move the setup. Moving the setup changes the pressure inside the bag and will
cause the solution level to change. Bags should also not be touching the inside walls of the
beaker, as this will change the pressure inside the bag and skew results.

Bags will be removed from the water and weighed on the scale to collect measurements.
Measurements should be collected every 15 minutes.

Once you’ve set up your experiment, let’s think about what you expect to see.

5. Draw in the movement of water according to your predictions

 6. Which are the dependent and the independent variables?

7. Will the data show a relationship between two variables or a comparison?

8. Should you use a line graph or a bar graph? Explain why.

9. Make a rough draft of what you expect the graph to look like:

10. Fill out the following data table with your observations:

Mass of Solution (g)

Concentration of 0 minutes 15 minutes 30 minutes 45 minutes 60 minutes

Solute in Bag

0%

10%

20%

11. What is the rate of osmosis for your solutions? Hint: rate is a change divided by the
time period. Therefore, if you have an apple that has an initial mass of 50g and a mass
of 62g after 30 minutes, you work out the changes as 12/30 = 0.4g/minute.

12. Results: Attach a graph of your recorded results. Once you have the graph, how would
you describe the results? Is there a relationship between the variables? Is there a
difference between the variables? Is one treatment higher or lower than the other? What
does the data show?

13. Discussion: In five or fewer sentences explain what the results mean and why did you
come to your conclusion about what the results mean? If there are several possibilities,
explain which you think is most likely and why. Critically, this section contains the
 answer to the question section or an acknowledgment that you failed to answer the
question.

14. Improvements: What could have been done differently if this experiment were repeated
to improve it?

15. Future directions: Having now answered the question, propose another related
question.

Clean up and disposal:

Sucrose solution is very sticky and it also attracts ants. Clean all items that you used, such as
beakers, scales, and tables. Rinse all items before disposing of them; we don’t want to bring an
ant infestation into the lab!

Used dialysis tubing should be rinsed in the sink and disposed of in the regular trash.

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Task 2 | Osmoregulation in Erythrocytes

Materials:
● 3 empty test tubes
● 0.9% NaCl solution
● 10% NaCl solution
● DI water
● Plastic pipettes
● Slides and coverslips
● 1 compound microscope

General Protocol:

- Obtain test tubes and label them 1, 2, and 3

- Add 5 drops of sheep’s blood to a slide with a plastic pipette
- Add 1mL of DI water to the slide
 - Add 4mL of your solution (DI water, 0.9% NaCl, or 10% NaCl)
- Swirl the test tube to mix the solution
- Place 1 drop the solution on a clean slide
- Gently place a coverslip over the sample
- Repeat for the other 2 solutions
- Examine the slides at 40X and record your observations.

16. What did the cells look like?

Hypotonic Solution Isotonic Solution Hypertonic Solution

17. Which solution is hypertonic?

18. Which concentration of NaCl lysed the cells?

19. Which of the three solutions most closely resembles the solute concentration in a
red blood cell? How do you know?

20. If a person’s blood volume drops due to injury or severe dehydration, why do
doctors administer isotonic saline intravenously instead of pure water?

21. What osmotic regulatory challenges would a fish living in freshwater have versus
a fish living in salt water?

Clean up and disposal:

Dispose of slides and cover slips in the broken glass container. Plastic droppers can go in the
marked box. Clean and disinfect your table and any other items used.