Investigate the effect of sucrose concentration on osmosis in a potato chip.

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                                                                        Reena Gandesha 12.1

                                                                        Biology Investigation

Osmosis Investigation

Aim: - To investigate the effect of sucrose concentration on osmosis in a potato chip.

Introduction: - Osmosis is the diffusion of water from an area of high water concentration to an area of low water concentration through a semi- permeable membrane of freely moving water molecules. Osmosis is the movement through a special membrane. The rate of which osmosis takes place is effected by concentration of water on each side of the semi-permeable membrane. For example, if there was more water on the left side than right, the net amount of water would travel to the right side through the process of osmosis. Osmosis occurs in the roots of plants, in our body e.g. the large intestine where excess water is absorbed.

Back-round Information: - Osmosis occurs in roots, as there is a higher concentration of water in the soil rather than the roots. The cell walls act as a semi- permeable membrane. Water in the plant is extremely important as it keeps the cells turgid, a lot of water is also lost by transpiration and water is also needed in the process of photosynthesis:

Carbon Dioxide + Water                         Glucose + Oxygen

Plant cells have two semi- permeable membranes to allow water to enter the vacuole. The membranes called the plasmalemma which is lining the inside of the cell wall; and the tonoplast which is lining the vacuole are semi-permeable. A swollen cell becomes turgid. The force exerted on the cell wall is called turgor pressure. The cell wall exerts pressure against the protoplasm. This pressure is called cell wall pressure and prevents the plant cell from bursting. Animal cells will burst when placed in pure water because they are only surrounded by a cell membrane.

When the plant does not have enough water incipient plasmolysis occurs this is the condition just before plasmolysis sets in. If the cell is placed in pure water, it can still recover. If the cell remains in the concentrated solution, water is lost from the cell by exosmosis and it will not be able to recover. Plasmolysis only occurs when water leaves a plant cell, and the cell membrane draws away from the cell wall.

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Hypothesis:- I predict, that as concentration increases, the weight and length of the potato chip will decrease. My reasoning behind this, is that the higher the concentration of glucose in a solution, the lower the concentration of water. When the potato chip is put into the solution, it will, by osmosis lose some of its water, and the water will diffuse into the solution of sucrose, causing the potato chip to lose water, thus decreasing in weight and length. However, if a potato chip is placed into a solution of 0 molar concentrations, it should gain weight, width, and ...

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