Factors Affecting Osmosis in Potato Tissue

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Factors Affecting Osmosis in Potato Tissue

Introduction:

I am going to design and modify an experiment used to show osmosis in

potato chips in different concentrations of sucrose solution. I am

also going to investigate on how potato chips change in volume and

weight when placed in different concentrations of sucrose solution. I

will also conduct a preliminary experiment before my final experiment.

Aim:

To investigate the effect of different concentration of sucrose

solution on potato chips.

Hypothesis:

I would expect the potato chips to turn flaccid when they are placed

in a strong sucrose solution because the water from within the cells

will diffuse out leaving the potato flaccid. The potato chips left in

the weak sucrose solutions should turn turgid in a weak sucrose

solution, due to the water being absorbed by osmosis into the cells of

the potatoes, this will make the potato chip larger in size. I should

also be able to find some potato chips, which have neither increased

nor decreased in size because the concentration in the potato is the

same as the sucrose solution, so no mass or length would be gained or

lost.

Scientific knowledge:

Osmosis is a type of diffusion, where the molecules move from an area

of high concentration to an area of low concentration passing through

a partially permeable membrane. When distilled water or a weak sucrose

solution or a diluted sucrose solution is used, the water molecules

will pass through the semi-permeable membrane into the potato. This is

due to the fact that the water is more concentrated outside, so the

molecules in the water will move through the permeable membrane, and

in this experiment it will pass through into the potato. The potato

chip will increase in length, and weight due to osmosis. When a strong

sucrose solution or a concentrated sucrose solution is used, the water

within the potato will move out of the potato through the

semi-permeable membrane, and into the strong sugar solution, of which

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