Osmosis of a Turnip and a Potato Chip

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Osmosis of a Turnip and a Potato Chip

The problem:

I have been asked to investigate why a turnip will taste sweeter than

a potato chip. What I am actually been asked to investigate is the

effect of varying concentration of a certain sugar solution on the

amount of osmotic activity between the solution and a potato chip of a

given size.

Background Knowledge:

Osmosis is a special type of diffusion involving the movement of water

molecules through a partially permeable membrane and is defined as the

movement of water or any other solution from a high concentration to a

low one through a semi permeable membrane e.g. cell wall. This could

be a cell wall that will allow small molecules to pass through it but

not large ones. For example if pure water and a strong sugar solution

are separated by a membrane then osmosis will

occur.

[IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAGE]

Large molecule

(Sugar molecule) Small molecule

(Water)

This shows osmosis in action. The water molecules can move in any

direction through the membrane. Because there is a higher

concentration of water on the right, there will be most movement of

water to the left.

[IMAGE]

The movement of water will stop when the concentration of water on

either side is even. The water molecules have moved through the

membrane until there is the same concentration on either side.

The potato is the storage part of the plant and so this is where the

glucose will be stored.

Prediction:

From the background knowledge and previous experiments completed I

predict that the turnip will taste sweeter than the potato because

there is a higher concentration of sugar molecules in the turnip.

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