APPARATUS
A potato
Sugar solutions (0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0)
Borer
Scalpel
Tweezers
Scales
6 test tubes
Test tube rack
Measuring cylinder
I will measure the amount of sugar solution in the test tubes. I will change the strength of sugar solution in each test tube. To make the experiment a fair test I will keep the weight of the pieces the same weight I will also only add the same amount of sugar solution. I think that the higher the molar used the lighter the weight of the potato chip after the experiment. I believe this will happen because osmosis is the movement of high concentration ton low concentration.
Observation / Results
I will observe how much the potato increases or decreases in weight after being in the sucrose solution for a certain amount of time.
Analysis
My results show that as the molar used increases the weight of the object gets further away from staying the same as its starting weight. My graph shows a pattern in the numbers that when the molars 0.4 and 0.6 were used the same result occurred all the other results were different but not that different. They were only different between 0.1g and 0.2g in weight. My graph shows that the weight of a plant cell can be changed using osmosis. As osmosis is the diffusion of fluid through a semi permeable membrane from a solution with a low solute concentration to a solution with a higher solute concentration until there is an equal concentration of fluid on both sides of the membrane. My results support my prediction as my prediction stated that I thought that the higher the molar used the more the weight of the potato chip will have decreased after the time left alone. This was proved, as most of the potato chips were decline in weight.
Osmosis
Osmosis is a special kind of diffusion. Diffusion is the net movement of substance from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. Diffusion occurs in plants and animals, whereas Osmosis occurs only in plants. Osmosis involves the movement of water molecules through a selectively permeable membrane. The cell membrane is selectively permeable because it can only let certain molecules through and not others. The water will pass through but the dissolved substance will not be able to pass through. Water will move from the weak solution, which has a high concentration of water to the strong solution, which has a low concentration of water
Evaluation
Some things in my experiment went well. Some of these things were that my potato chips declined in weight and proved my prediction and showed that osmosis happens in plant cells. Some things that went wrong with my experiment were that the borer would sometimes break a piece of potato I had just removed from the potato and that sometimes the pieces of potato I picked from the potato were not heavy enough as they all had to be the same weight for my experiment to be a fair test. My results were as accurate as I could make them. I did this by using tweezers to pick them out as to not squeeze some of the weight of them out onto the table. On test 1 when using the molars 0.0 and 0.2 the weight ended up enlarging by 0.1 instead of supposedly decreasing. These are the only anomalous results I can find in my results. I could improve my experiment to improve the accuracy by using a more precise set of scales that maybe measured to 2 decimal places or more rather than the 1 decimal place ones that I used. I would expect that I would get very similar results if I did it again. I would expect this, as my results are similar to others.
