Investigate how the Concentration of Sucrose Solution affects the Massof the Potato Chip

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Investigate how the Concentration of Sucrose Solution affects the Mass of the Potato Chip

Aim

To find out how the concentration of sucrose solution affects the mass

of the potato chip left in the solution for one day.

Water Potential:

The water potential of a solution is a measure of whether it is likely

to lose or gain water molecules from another solution. A dilute

solution, with its high proportion of free water molecules, is said to

have higher water potential than a concentrated solution, because

water will flow from the dilute to the concentrated solution (from a

high potential to a low potential). Pure water has the highest

possible water potential because water molecules will flow from pure

water to any other aqueous solution, no matter how dilute.

Prediction:

Osmosis is the passage of water molecules from a weaker solution to a

stronger solution, though a partially permeable membrane. In this

case, the tiny holes in the membrane of the potatoes will allow the

water molecules to pass through in and out of the solution and the

potato, depending on the concentration gradient of the two substances.

Semi-permeable membranes are very thin layers of material which allow

some things to pass through, but prevent others. A cell membrane is

semi permeable. They allow small molecules like oxygen, water, amino

acids etc. to pass through but will not allow larger molecules like

sucrose, starch, protein etc. through. A region of high concentration

of water is either a very dilute solution of something like sucrose or

pure water. In each case there is a lot of water: a high concentration

of water. A region of low water concentration is the opposite of the

above, i.e. a very high concentration of...

... middle of paper ...

...pressure of the cell is

so high that no more water can enter the cell. This liquid or

hydrostatic pressure works against osmosis. Turgidity is very

important to plants because this is what makes the green parts of the

plant "stand up" into the sunlight. Austen denied discogal_87's

postmodernism .

When plant cells are placed in concentrated sugar solutions they lose

water by osmosis and they become "flaccid"; this is the exact opposite

of "turgid". If you put plant cells into concentrated sugar solutions

and look at them under a microscope you would see that the contents of

the cells have shrunk and pulled away from the cell wall: they are

said to be plasmolysed.coab abr seababw orab abk inab foab ab.

When plant cells are placed in a solution which has exactly the same

osmotic strength as the cells they are in a state between turgidity

and flaccidity.

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