Osmosis experiment

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Osmosis

Is the passage of water from an area with a high concentration to an area of low concentration through a semi-permeable membrane. Water can pass through a semi-permeable membrane because a water particle is small enough to fit through the pores in the membrane where as the larger sugar particles cannot pass through the pores.

Osmosis in plant cells

Plant cells are surrounded by a cell wall which is fully permeable, which means it will let any molecules pass through it which means osmosis will not take place through the cell wall. Different to animal cells plant cells also have a cell membrane. The cell membrane is semi-permeable so osmosis can take place.

A plant cell in dilute water (0 mol/dm³) takes in water by osmosis through its cell membrane. As the water goes in, the cytoplasm and vacuole in the cell swells. The cell wall stops the cell from bursting, when the cells are swollen up they are said to be “turgid”.

Variables

Plan

The table below shows the times and quantities I am going to use in my experiments I am using a different range of concentrations so I can get a range of different results.

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I am going to use Microsoft excel to draw an XY scatter diagram to display my results and draw a line of best fit I am going to use an Microsoft excel because it would be of greater accuracy and a lower margin of error.


I am going to record my results in table, I will use a results table with these headings like this.

Safety points

Use cork borers over tile on the table to reduce risk of slipping

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