An Experiment to Investigate the Effects of Varying Sucrose Concentration on the Mass of Potato Chips.

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Kunal Shrivastava                                                                                                 20/07/03

An Experiment to Investigate the Effects of Varying Sucrose Concentration on the Mass of Potato Chips

The aim of my experiment is to investigate the effect of varying the concentration of sucrose on a potato chip. I aim to observe the change in mass, and I hope to view what happens to the chips as the concentration increases, and I hope to see the effect that osmosis has on the chip.

The experiment that I am conducting uses the process of osmosis. Osmosis is the movement of water molecules across a partially permeable membrane from a region of high water concentration to a region of low water concentration. Partially-permeable membranes are very thin layers of material which allow some substances to pass through them but prevent other substances from passing through. For example, a partially permeable membrane may allow water molecules to pass through it, but may not allow larger molecules such as Glucose to pass through. An example of a partially permeable membrane is visking tubing, which is also known as ‘dialysis tubing.’ Visking tubing is a  membrane with tiny pores, which allows small  such as  to pass through but does not allow larger molecules such as . If  of different  are on either side of the visking membrane, water molecules will pass through and tend to dilute the more concentrated solution, hence the idea of osmosis. Below is an example of osmosis. There is one section of a beaker containing a solution of water and glucose molecules. The other side of the beaker contains just water molecules. In between both liquids is a partially permeable mebrane separating the two.  

 

Cell membranes are exactly the same as partially permeable membranes. Cell membranes will allow small molecules like Oxygen, Water, Carbon Dioxide, Ammonia, Glucose, amino acids, etc. to pass through. Cell membranes will not allow larger molecules such as Sucrose, Starch, protein, etc. to pass through.

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If you place a plant cell, or even an animal cell in a medium, different things could happen to it depending on its situation. If the water concentration of the cells cytoplasm is lower than the concentration of the medium surrounding the cell, which is a hypotonic solution, then osmosis will result in the cell gaining water. As this carries on, it could result in swelling up the cell or even bursting it. This is because the water in the cell comes in faster by osmosis, than it leaves the cell by diffusion. If the water concentration inside the cell ...

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