Investigating Water Potential Of Potatoes.

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Investigating Water Potential Of Potatoes.

AIM

To investigate the effect of various sugar solutions (which have different concentrations of sugar solutions. on a potato. We will be investigating the length of the potato after a certain amount of time. Thus, enabling us to investigate the water potential of a potato.

INTRODUCTION

The fact that organisms rely on diffusion for the fulfilment of many of their needs has had a profound effect on their structure. Consider, for example, the way gas exchange relates to the size of an organism. The organism's oxygen requirements (its needs) are proportional to its volume, i.e. the bulk of respiring tissue, which it contains. Its exchanges however, are proportional to the surface area over which diffusion of oxygen can take place. In an organism, the effective surface area must be sufficient to fulfil the needs of the respiring tissue (pg. 48 Biology a Functional Approach MBV Roberts).

This simple fact also occurs in Osmosis (movement of water molecules from a region of higher water potential to a region of lower water potential through a partially permeable membrane). Although the plasma membrane of a cell is fully permeable to