Effect of Glucose Concentration on Osmosis

Effect of Glucose Concentration on Osmosis

The aim of my experiment is to investigate the effect of glucose

solution on osmosis in potato chips. I shall be observing how the mass

of the potato chip changes in different concentrations of glucose

solutions. Simply, will the effect of the action of osmosis be

affected by the concentration of the solution?

Firstly, I measure the mass of the potato chips, each one was to be 10

grams in weight. The chip will be placed into a glucose solution of a

certain concentration. After leaving the chip for an hour I shall take

it out, blot the excess liquid and measure the mass. I shall record

the differences in masses and then calculate the percentage weight

changes of the recorded masses when a potato chip has been in

different concentrates.

To ensure that my results are as fair and accurate as possible shall

use a number of controls. These will hopefully eliminate any extreme

variables in my results. Firstly, I shall choose the same variety of

potato for each chip because the permeable membrane will have a

similar genetic makeup. This will exclude this possible difference

from affecting my results. Secondly, I shall attempt to prepare the

chips so that they are cut uniformly. This will keep the surface area

of the chips as constant as possible. Thirdly, I shall leave each

potato chip in the solution for exactly 3 hours. In my preliminary

work , in preparation for this experiment , I found that this length

of time obtained a sufficient amount of results. If I had left them

for thirty minutes the results may not have been noticeable and so

more difficult to measure. Fourthly, I shall take care when removing

the chip from the solution, particularly when removing any excess

fluid, by blotting. Any excess fluid will affect the recorded mass

when weighing.

Because I want the experiment to reflect the average results and not

one based on any extreme results, I shall weigh each potato chip

twice.