An Experiment to Investigate Osmosis in Plant Tissue

An Experiment to Investigate Osmosis in Plant Tissue

Aim: To conduct an investigation to compare the osmotic behavior of

two types of plant tissue in varying concentrations of sucrose

solution. To find the point at which there is no change in mass or

length of a specific plant tissue in a certain sucrose solution, the

point of equilibrium, where sucrose and water contents are both equal

in the solution and the tissue.

Introduction: When a plant cell is placed in a sucrose solution there

may be a change in mass and length depending on the sucrose solution

and tissue itself. A tissue is a group of similar cells that perform

the same task or function. Therefore the whole tissue will react

because it is just a huge cluster of cells. These changes occur

because of osmosis. Osmosis is the movement of water molecules from a

dilute solution (has a High Water Potential) to a more concentrated

solution (has a Low Water Potential) through a selectively permeable

membrane in order to achieve equilibrium. A membrane that allows water

to pass through, but not solute molecules. Osmosis is a biological

process If equilibrium is ever achieved then water molecules will move

back and forth between the substances. If a surrounding sucrose

solution has a lower water potential than the plant tissue in the

solution, then, through osmosis water will move from the tissue into

the surrounding solution, the tissue will lose mass and length as a

result and will be flaccid. Water will be lost from the tissue and

depending on the amount lost the weight and length will decrease

accordingly. If a surrounding sucrose solution has a higher water

potential than the tissue then water will move by osmosis from the

solution into the tissue. The tissue would gain in mass and length and

will become turgid. If plant tissue has a higher water potential than

the solution it is put into and the solution was highly concentrated

then enough water could be lost through osmosis so that the plants

cells would lose all water from their sap vacuoles becoming flaccid