If a red blood cell were to be put in water, it would burst, as the water would go into it through the process of osmosis. I also know that the potato slices will not burst, as plant cells have thick walls. The potato slice should become turgid.
This is my table of the weights and lengths of the different potatoes before I start the experiment.
OBTAINING EVIDENCE
I intend to collect the evidence from my experiment, after the potato slices have soaked in the solutions for 24 hours. I will make sure that I collect the evidence fairly and safely, by making sure I wash my hands before I collect the evidence, and making sure that I dry off any excess solution from each potato slice before I measure them.
Here is my results table…
I repeated this exercise, because I thought my lengths were a bit odd, as a lot of them came out as 3 cm. Here is my second results table…
This table seemed a bit more likely, so I have used this as my final evidence.
ANALYSING AND CONSIDERING EVIDENCE
This evidence shows that my prediction was correct. The water went into the potato slices, but with the higher concentrated solutions, water actually came out of the potato, making it smaller than before the experiment.
To show a pattern of the weights and sizes of the potatoes, here are some graphs…
The percentage changes in mass are as follows…
H20 - 126.05%
0.2 – 102.3%
0.4 – 79.2%
0.6 – 73.9%
0.8 – 65.75%
1.0 – 58.45%
As you can see, at first the slices were getting bigger, but with the higher concentrated solution, the slices were almost halving in weight. This also proves my prediction as correct.
In conclusion, I would say that my prediction was correct, although I did not expect the higher concentrated solutions to lessen the weight and size of the potatoes as much as they did.
EVALUATING
I did an experiment, which tested the process of osmosis through the use of different concentrations of sugar in water and slices of potato. I recorded the weights and lengths of the potato slices, and then I left the slices in the different solutions for 24 hours. I then recorded the weights and lengths of the potatoes to see what difference had been made by the process of osmosis.
I did the experiment twice, as I thought that my first results could have been better, as they did not make as much sense as they could. The second time around, the results were much better, and I found that I was pleased with them.
If I were to do this experiment again, I would try to improve the test by making it a bit fairer. For example, while preparing for the experiment, I would try and make sure that all the weights of the potatoes were the same, as well as the lengths.
I was unhappy with my first results, as I thought that they did not give enough evidence to prove my prediction right. I performed the experiment again, and found that I had sufficient evidence to support the conclusion that I had predicted correctly.
If I wanted to further prove myself, I could do another experiment, with a wider range of variables and solutions. I could also have made the test fairer, as I have mentioned above.
In conclusion, I would like to say that my prediction was correct, but I could have given it a bit more detail, such as explaining what would happen with the higher concentrations of sugar as well as the lower concentrations