osmosis coursework

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Osmosis investigation

Aim: to investigate the affect of using different amounts of sugar solution and to measure the osmotic reaction when different amounts are put on a small potato chip.

Intro: we were told that we were going to be doing an investigation in to osmosis as our coursework, osmosis is a process involving molecules and a semi-permeable membrane from a place of higher concentration of molecules to a place of lower concentration of molecules until the concentration on both sides is equal. To find out about osmosis we did an experiment involving putting equal bits of potato chip into some different solutions of water and sugar–solution and see what affect it had on the potato after a certain amount of time. We also had to think about things which would affect the experiment and the ideas we came up with were size of chip, temperature and types of potato.  

Hypothesis

Wikipiedia define osmosis as “the net movement of water or any other solution as molecules from a region in which they are highly concentrated to a region in which they are less concentrated.” This movement must take place across a semi-permeable membrane, which lets smaller molecules like water through but does not allow bigger molecules to pass through e.g. sugar. The molecules will continue to move in and out until the area in which the molecules are found is equal.

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For this particular investigation I think that the lower the concentration of the sugar solution in the beaker the larger the mass of the potato will be. This is because the water will pass from a high concentration, (in the water itself) to a low concentration, (in the potato chip). Therefore, the chips in more water will have a larger mass than in higher sugar solution.

Method

  • cut up equal sizes of potato and weigh them out and make them as equal  weight as possible
  • put the weight of the potato chip in a table (you’ll need them ...

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