The Concentration Of Salt Solution Affects Osmosis In Potatoes

How the Concentration of Salt Solution Affects Osmosis in Potatoes

Osmosis is movement of water through a selectively permeable membrane, from where there is a higher water concentration (or water potential) to where the water concentration is lower. In this piece of coursework I will answer the question, ‘How does the concentration of salt solution affect osmosis in potatoes?’.

If you put a piece of potato into pure water, the water concentration is obviously higher outside the potato. Therefore water moves into the potato by osmosis. This will cause the potato piece to swell. However, if you put a piece of potato into a strong salt solution (where the water concentration is low), then water will

Therefore, the potato piece will stay the same size.

Salt is a solute, when it is concentrated inside or outside the cell, it will draw the water in its direction. This is also why you get thirsty after eating something salty.

A cell can only become flaccid by losing water. The chain of events starts with water leaving the cell through the cell membrane by osmosis because the water concentration outside is lower than that in the cell. As water is lost the vacuole gets smaller as it is used to top the cytoplasm up. This reduces the volume of the cell contents so the membrane begins to shrink away from the cell wall. At first it will stay in contact with the wall at several points, but pretty soon it will shrink away from the wall completely. If the process continues the vacuole will disappear completely and the cytoplasm will continue to shrink. Since the contents are no longer pushing outwards against the wall the cell is no longer firm.

Many cell membranes behave as semi permeable membranes, and osmosis is a vital procedure in the transport of fluids in living organisms, for example, in the transport of water from the soil to the roots

This is because the solution has more water potential (its molecules’ ability to move) than the potato chip, and so water moves from a region of high concentration (the solution) to a region of low concentration (the potato chip.)

Conclusion

To conclude this piece of coursework, I can say that the movement of water through a selectively permeable membrane is affected by concentration of salt solution, or by any other solution. The higher the concentration of salt solution, the more the potato chip will lose its weight, width and length.

Because water molecules have kinetic energy, they are constantly moving around in gaseous or liquid form, moving randomly from one place or another. The greater the concentration of water molecules in a system or solution, the greater the total kinetic energy, and the higher its water potential. This means, that as the concentration of salt increases in a solution, the concentration of water decreases, lessening the solution’s water potential, and lessening its ability to move between solutions by osmosis. Relating this to the potato