Planning an experiment to determine what factors affect osmosis

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Saturday, 28 April 2007

Planning an experiment to determine what factors affect osmosis

Safety:

  • Cut the potato cylinder using a razor on a white tile
  • When cutting with the razor, be careful not to chop your fingers off
  • Be careful not to get any of the salt solution in your eyes, as it will bring out all of the water from your eyes and render them useless

Fair Testing:

  • I will keep the amount of solution, 10cm3 the same throughout all of the test tubes , because otherwise some pieces of potato will be able to diffuse water quick and easier than others, and so the results will be inaccurate
  • Ensure that you take all the pieces from the same potato, as otherwise the results will be messed up, because different potatoes have different properties as they have been grown in different places
  • Make sure that you dry each potato piece the same way as if you don’t then the experiment will be ruined, as there will be either be too much or too little water remaining on the potato piece
  • Remember to use the same cork-borer for each piece of potato, as the diameter is slightly different for each cork-borer, and so the overall surface area of the potato piece could be affected
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Method:

  • Find a potato
  • Using a cork borer, take a cylinder-shaped slice out of the potato, of roughly 5 cm in length
  • Then using a razor and a white tile, cut the skin off of each end
  • Next, cut the piece into two 2cm lengths using a ruler
  • Any excess from the cylinder can be thrown away
  • Repeat this four times, until you have ten 2cm pieces of potato
  • Weigh each one and write their weights down in a table
  • Put two into each test tube and write the number on it with a black marker pen
  • ...

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